Re: OFF-TOPIC: License question...

From: Jack Wilson (deejay@cu-online.com)
Date: 07/02/96


Ground Zero Enterprises wrote:
> 
> I was just curious about something so I re-read the license for both
> Circle and Diku mud.  Hypothetically, would it be a license violation to
> charge someone for a patch to CircleMUD if all of the code was written by
> you?  Not that anyone would necesarrily pay, I just was wondering if its
> legal or not.
> 
> ThANKS,
> cHRIS

Chris,

   First, I appreciate your label of "OFF TOPIC" in the subject.  I think
that's a great idea and I'll try to stick with that convention in the
future.  I hope others will do the same!  :)

   Now for the question itself.

   You probably shouldn't be broadcasting license questions to the list
at large.  The only people who can definitively answer licensing
questions are the authors of the software.  If they all say "yes", it's
definitely OK.  If even one author says "no", you're out of luck.  If
you don't want to take a chance that they'll say "no", pay a lawyer to
find out if it would be OK. 
 
   My guess - and this is ONLY a guess, ask the authors for the real
answer - is that since the Circle license prohibits charging fees to
distribute Circle, and since Circle add-ons are derived works of Circle,
you can't charge others for code add-ons to Circle; your code would
fall under the Circle license.

   And BTW, if the administrators of a MUD/MUD site don't respect the
intellectual property rights of the Circle/DIKU team, they probably
won't respect your rights either.  Just food for thought, before you go
out there and try to sell Circle-related software.  Hypothetically
speaking, of course.

-- 
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[----- Jack Wilson ------- mailto:deejay@cu-online.com ----------------]
[- Home page: http://www.cu-online.com/~deejay/ -----------------------]
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