A call for clear licensing terms for scripts

The_Jeff wrote on 1/6/2004, 8:46 PM

Hi,

I've recently decided to tryout a few of the scripts here in at the sundance site. Many of them are pretty useful and I am happy with how quickly people created scripts once vegas started to support it. One concern I have is that to a large extent, no one takes the time to decribe or define the license terms for the scripts that are posted. Technically, each of these scripts are protected by copyright under US law (even if you do not mark them as such) so there are potential legal questions that come up if one wants to actually use these scripts.

Just because you post the stuff in a public forum does not mean that you have placed it in the "public domain" so at some point someone could come back and file a complaint agaist someone re-hosting the scripts. Also if the original author vanishes and someone wants to "fix" one of the scripts they will have created a derived work and so they may not legally repost it.

It would be great if people would put something in the headers indicating some sort of license terms that would actually make it legal to download, use and perhaps extend the scripts.

Something like a BSD, GPL, (or give up copyrights by placing it in thePublic Domain) or anything at all so long as people can figure it out.

For a few licenses that you might want to try look at

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html

Hopefully this thread does not degenerate into a copyright/fair use/GPL yadda yadda yadda thread. And certainly some of what I have said is probably wrong (heck, my lawyers can't even seem to get this right all the time)... But I do think the basic thrust of the message is valid and that if nothing else it would be a good idea.

Comments

PeterWright wrote on 1/9/2004, 12:53 AM

Hi Jeff,

I come from a common sense background.

If someone submits or posts a script and says "here it is folks" that means we can use it, unless it's stipulated that we can't, or that we have to pay for it first.

Remember, this is not a US law question, it's an international thing.

Now, things like Excalibur and Tsunami are clearly defined as proprietary products from the outset, as can any script be if the author decides that way, but otherwise, don't worry - enjoy.

farss wrote on 1/9/2004, 9:48 PM

I'd have to agree.
As a software developer I copy snippets of code all the time, not from commercial works but from say MSDN.
Mostly the scripts are only a few lines of code, not a complete work and as such I don't think could be made copyright even if you wanted to. It'd be a bit like someone putting out a CD with a track on it with one piano note of middle C and then saying no one else can play middle C without paying them.
Excalibur and Tsunami may be different ( I haven't seen them so I'm guessing) in that they are complete works that are identified as being someones work. Even that doesn't stop someone else writing another application that does the same thing so long as it's clearly a new work.

The_Jeff wrote on 1/10/2004, 5:01 AM

Look, I am not trying to provide law advice but must of the scripts on sundace are quite a bit bigger than "middle C". Everyone is free to do what they'd like and I suspect that nothing will ever come of this but I am pretty sure that if someone decides to be a pest about these things they do have a legal leg to stand on.

cheroxy wrote on 1/15/2004, 2:19 PM

I have collected as many of the scripts as possible to share on my family website www.calderwood.org. I have had them there a couple of months, and put a note at the bottom that if anybody wants theirs removed to contact me and I will gladly oblige. I have never recieved one complaint, on the contrary I have received many thank you emails for it. No authors have said anything negative either.

I think the general consensus is, post it because you want to share it, and sharing is caring :)

Carson Calderwood - AKA - cheroxy

farss wrote on 2/6/2004, 2:53 AM

Jeff,
in the current copyright madness I'm sure its only a matter of time before someone tries something daft. I say daft because I don't think they've got a leg to stand on. Things that are patently obvious cannot be copyrighted, mathematical formula are an example of this, even if you're the guy that discovered the one to warp time as far as I know sorry no copyright because it's inherent in the universe, you didn't create it.
Now OK 20 lines of Java aren't inherent in Gods grand plan but if they're the only solution and one that nayone with training in the field could discover then if the first person to publish it could claim copyright they've excluded all others from being able to find a solution as there's only one possible solution.
In this country the general ruling by the courts is that 4 bars of music cannot be copyright simply becuase there's a quite finite number of combination of notes that'll fit into 4 bars.

It's because source code is so hard to copyright that software houses guard that with their lives. The same applies anything written in VB or Java.

Despite all that I suppose a simple solution is a notice on the sites where the scripts are being posted. Even though I seriously doubt any poster would have a chance in a court and could end up loosing a lot of money in the process to save possible grief it might be a good idea.