On Thu, Jul 06, 2000 at 04:26:38PM +0200, Henning Makholm wrote:
> >  Henning> That is a very broad clause: "Recipient will .. indemnify
> >  Henning> .. SGI from, .. any loss ... arising out of Recipient's use
> >  Henning> .. of the Covered Code". That seems to mean that if I use
> >  Henning> the software in a business that competes successfully with
> >  Henning> SGI, they could sue me and demand that I pay up for their
> >  Henning> lost profits.
[...]
> Which of the words I quoted do not come from the original clause?
> Which of my "..."s do you think cover somthing that makes my reading
> false?

Unfortunately, the term "indemnify" has (at least) two distinct meanings:

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:

  Indemnify \In*dem"ni*fy\ (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Indemnified
     (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Indemnifying (?).] [L. indemnis unhurt
     (in- not + damnum hurt, damage) + -fy. Cf. Damn, Damnify.]
     1. To save harmless; to secure against loss or damage; to
        insure. The states must at last engage to the merchants
        here that they will indemnify them from all that shall
        fall out.                                   --Sir W.
                                                    Temple.

     2. To make restitution or compensation for, as for that which
        is lost; to make whole; to reimburse; to compensate.
        --Beattie.

Generally, in my limited and armchair experience, licenses and warranty
statements mean "indemnify" in sense 1).  However I would very much hate to
be on the losing site of a court case and hear a judge tell me it means
2)...

Perhaps one of the resident amateur legal eagles can clarify this in the
contexts of contract law or tort theory.

-- 
G. Branden Robinson             |
Debian GNU/Linux                |    Exercise your freedom of religion.  Set
[EMAIL PROTECTED]              |    fire to a church of your choice.
http://www.debian.org/~branden/ |

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