411 lines
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411 lines
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HTML
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<title>SecBSD: Copyright Policy</title>
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<meta name="description" content="SecBSD Copyright Policy">
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<link rel="canonical" href="https://secbsd.org/">
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<nav>
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<h1><a href="index.html">
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<img src="/img/logo.png" alt="[SecBSD]"></a>
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</h1>
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<li><a href="index.html">About</a></li>
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<div class="box">
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<b class="green">█</b>
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<b>SecBSD Copyright Policy</b><br><br>
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<p class="purple">Goal.
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</p>
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<p>
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Copyright law is complex, SecBSD policy is simple — SecBSD strives to
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provide code that can be freely used, copied, modified, and distributed
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by anyone and for any purpose. This maintains the spirit of the original
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Berkeley Software Distribution. The preferred wording of a license to be
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applied to new code can be found in the
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<a href="license.template">license template</a>.
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</p>
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<p>
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SecBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the
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Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they
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and others fought to create a Unix source distribution un-encumbered
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by proprietary code and commercial licensing.
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</p>
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<p>
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The ability of a <strong>freely redistributable</strong> "Berkeley" Unix
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to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends
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on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst
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themselves and with other projects.
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Understanding the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to
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the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of
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the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the
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cooperation of the people involved.
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</p>
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<p class="purple">The Berkeley Copyright</p>
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<p>
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The original Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
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use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
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for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
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crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
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advertising.
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</p>
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<p class="purple">For instance:</p>
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<p>
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<pre>
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* Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993
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* The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
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*
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* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
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* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
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* are met:
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* 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
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* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
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* 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
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* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
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* documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
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* 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
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* must display the following acknowledgement:
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* This product includes software developed by the University of
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* California, Berkeley and its contributors.
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* 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
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* may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
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* without specific prior written permission.
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*
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* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
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* ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
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* IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
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* ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
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* FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
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* DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
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* OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
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* HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
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* LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
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* OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
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* SUCH DAMAGE.
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*
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</pre>
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<p>
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Berkeley rescinded the 3rd term (the advertising term) on 22 July 1999.
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Verbatim copies of the Berkeley license in the SecBSD tree have that
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term removed. In addition, many 3rd-party BSD-style licenses consist
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solely of the first two terms.
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</p>
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<p>
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Because the SecBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
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imposed by the Berkeley copyright, SecBSD can hope to share the same
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wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
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It follows however, that SecBSD cannot include material which
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includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
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copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
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i.e. SecBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
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components may not be.
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</p>
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<p class="purple">Copyright Law</p>
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<p>
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While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
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this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
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copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
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the creator. In general the copyright applies
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only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
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those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
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</p>
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<p>
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Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
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<dl>
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<dt>Original Work
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<dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
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<dt>Derivative Work
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<dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
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<dt>Compilation
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<dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
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</dl>
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<p>
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The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
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is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held by
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the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
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added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
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of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
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</p>
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<p>
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It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
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as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
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notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
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notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
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to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
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license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
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disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
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with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
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</p>
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<p>
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By international law, specifically the Berne Convention for the
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Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, part of the author's
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copyright, the so-called moral rights, are inalienable. This
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includes the author's right "to claim authorship of the work and
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to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of,
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or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work, which
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would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation". In some countries,
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the law reserves additional inalienable moral rights to the author.
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On the other hand, the author is free to transfer other parts
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of his copyright, the so-called economic rights, in particular the
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rights to use, copy, modify, distribute, and license the work.
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</p>
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<p class="purple">Permissions — the flip side</p>
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<p>
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Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
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a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
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permission to use a work beyond what might be allowed by "fair use"
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provisions of the copyright laws.
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</p>
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<p>
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This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
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included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
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granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
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At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
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he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
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restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
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restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
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</p>
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<p>
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Note that a license is not to be confused with a copyright transfer.
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While a transfer would give the new copyright holder <em>exclusive</em>
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rights to use the code and take these rights away from the author,
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a license typically grants <em>additional</em> people non-exclusive
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rights to use the code, while the authors retain all their rights.
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</p>
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<p>
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The above observations regarding moral rights imply that putting
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code under an ISC or two-clause BSD license essentially makes the
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code as free as it can possibly get. Modifying the wording of these
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licenses can only result in one of the three following effects:
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<ul class="list">
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<li>making the code less free by adding additional restrictions
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regarding its use, copying, modification or distribution;
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<li>or effectively not changing anything by merely changing the wording,
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but not changing anything substantial regarding the legal content;
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<li>or making the license illegal by attempting to deprive the
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authors of rights they cannot legally give away.
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</ul>
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<p>
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Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
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only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
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holder—the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
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grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
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restrictive conditions for use of that work.
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</p>
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<p>
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Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
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or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
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associated release terms has no bearing on the existence of the copyright,
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rather all that is accomplished is to cast doubt upon whatever rights the
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person making the modifications had to use the material in the first place.
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Likewise, adding terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms
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and conditions does not supersede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights
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of the person making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion
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as to whether anyone can use the amended version or derivatives thereof.
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</p>
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<p>
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Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
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are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
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that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
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apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
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possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
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the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
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of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
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the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
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already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
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more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
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</p>
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<p class="purple">Specific Cases</p>
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<p>
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This section attempts to summarize the position of SecBSD relative to
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some commonly encountered copyrights.
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</p>
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<p>
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Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
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only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
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holder—the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
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grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
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restrictive conditions for use of that work.
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</p>
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<dl><dt>Berkeley<dd>
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<p>
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The Berkeley copyright is the model for the SecBSD copyright. It retains
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the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
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the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
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or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
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included in SecBSD.
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</p>
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<dt>AT&T<dd><p>
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As part of its settlement with AT&T, Berkeley included an
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AT&T copyright notice on some of the files in 4.4BSD lite and lite2.
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The terms of this license are identical to the standard Berkeley license.
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</p>
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<p>
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Additionally, SecBSD includes some other AT&T code with non-restrictive
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copyrights, such as the reference implementation of
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<a href="https://github.com/onetrueawk/awk">awk</a>.
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</p>
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<dt>Caldera<dd><p>
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The original Unix code (AT&T versions 1 through 7 UNIX, including 32V)
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was freed by Caldera, Inc. on 23 January 2002 and is now available under a
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<a href="http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Caldera-license.pdf">4-term BSD-style license</a>.
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As a result, it would theoretically be possible to incorporate original
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Unix code into SecBSD. However, that code is now so old that it does not
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satisfy today's interface and quality standards.
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</p>
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<dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
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In general SecBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
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or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
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granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
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to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
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employee and the employer's copyright notice effectively releases any
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rights they might have to the work.
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</p>
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<dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
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The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
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that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
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Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
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be included in SecBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
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are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
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distribution of Mach sources.
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</p>
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<dt>Apache<dd><p>
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The original Apache license was similar to the Berkeley license,
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but source code published under version 2 of the Apache license is
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subject to additional restrictions and cannot be included into SecBSD.
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In particular, if you use code under the Apache 2 license, some of
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your rights will terminate if you claim in court that the code
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violates a patent.
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</p>
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<p>
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A license can only be considered fully permissive if it allows use
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by anyone for all the future without giving up any of their rights.
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If there are conditions that might terminate any rights in the
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future, or if you have to give up a right that you would otherwise
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have, even if exercising that right could reasonably be regarded
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as morally objectionable, the code is not free.
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</p>
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<p>
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Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
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only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
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holder—the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
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grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
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restrictive conditions for use of that work.
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</p>
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<p>
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In addition, the clause about the patent license is problematic because
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a patent license cannot be granted under Copyright law, but only under
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contract law, which drags the whole license into the domain of contract
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law. But while Copyright law is somewhat standardized by international
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agreements, contract law differs wildly among jurisdictions. So what
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the license means in different jurisdictions may vary and is hard to
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predict.
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</p>
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<dt>ISC<dd><p>
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The ISC copyright is functionally equivalent to a two-term BSD
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copyright with language removed that is made unnecessary by the
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Berne convention. This is the preferred license for new code
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incorporated into SecBSD. A sample license is available in the file
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<a href="license.template">license.template</a>.
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</p>
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<dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
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The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
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that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
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are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
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</p>
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<p>
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While this may superficially look like a noble strategy, it is a
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condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
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So in practice, it usually ends up hindering free sharing and reuse
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of code and ideas rather than encouraging it.
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As a consequence, no additional software bound by the GPL terms
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will be considered for inclusion into the SecBSD base system.
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</p>
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<p>
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For historical reasons, the SecBSD base system still includes the
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following GPL-licensed components: the GNU compiler collection (GCC)
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with supporting binutils and libraries, GNU CVS, GNU texinfo,
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the mkhybrid file system creation tool, and the
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readline library. Replacement by equivalent, more freely licensed
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tools is a long-term desideratum.
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</p>
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<dt>OpenBSD<dd><p>
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SecBSD is fully based on and evolved from OpenBSD.
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The general OpenBSD license terms permit such use, copy, modify,
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and distribute this software for any purpose.
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OpenBSD license can generally be included in SecBSD.
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<dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
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Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
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of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
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NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
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such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
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license can generally be included in SecBSD.
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</p>
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<dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
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Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
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copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
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included in SecBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
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various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the SecBSD license
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can not be included in SecBSD.
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</p>
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<dt>Linux<dd><p>
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Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
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can not be included in SecBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
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subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
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Linux "distributions" may also be subject to additional copyright claims
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of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
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included that is not part of the Linux core.
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</p>
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<dt>X.Org<dd><p>
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The X.Org Foundation maintains and distributes the X Window System
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under a modified MIT license, which is quite similar to the BSD
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license and additionally allows sublicensing. Under the name of
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Xenocara, the SecBSD base system includes an improved and actively
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maintained version of the X.Org code.
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</p>
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<dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
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Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
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use or visibility that are at conflict with the SecBSD project goals.
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Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
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of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
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demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
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goals of the SecBSD project.
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</p>
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<dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
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While material that is truly entered into the "public domain" can be
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included in SecBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
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Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
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not really hold all rights under copyright law to grant that status or
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there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
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truly in the "public domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
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is offered without restrictions.
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</p>
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<p>
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In some jurisdictions, it is doubtful whether voluntarily placing
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one's own work into the public domain is legally possible.
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For that reason, to make any substantial body of code free,
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it is preferable to state the copyright and put it under an ISC
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or BSD license instead of attempting to release it into the public
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domain.
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</p>
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</dl>
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</div>
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</body>
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</html>
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