Joshua Marinacci wrote: > +1 > > always consider your end goal first, then find the license that meets > your need. For example, almost all of the open source projects I work > on have the underlying goal of getting people to do more interesting > things with Java. This means I want to code shared as far and wide as > possible, so I chose the most common license with the least > restrictions: BSD. > My two cents about these two patents. BSD is very short, while Apache is longer (4 pages). While for software projects I prefer shorter stuff, I *presume* that with legal stuff things are different ;-) Jokes apart, I've the sensation that the Apache license is better written, it's better "legalese" and clarifies better many aspects. Many people say that the shorter and easier to understand BSD should be preferred because non-legal people like us developers understand it better, but I don't agree with this point of view: in the actual case you need to protect your right with a license, e.g. in a litigation, the fact that software engineers understand the license better is of no use, as you'll deal with lawyers. Given that, a litigation is probably something that won't happen to 99% of us.
Also, the Apache License includes a patent grant - as I understand it, contributors accept that, in case their contribution is patented, rights for their patent are transferred to users of the code. These two things probably don't make a big difference for many project that we create and publish (I've never got a patent and I think I'll never do), while are probably more interesting for evaluating software that we use in our stuff. Nevertheless, I think that the Apache License is well written and it's my favorite one. 3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work, where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s) with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You institute patent litigation against any entity (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed. -- Fabrizio Giudici - Java Architect, Project Manager Tidalwave s.a.s. - "We make Java work. Everywhere." weblogs.java.net/blog/fabriziogiudici - www.tidalwave.it/blog fabrizio.giud...@tidalwave.it - mobile: +39 348.150.6941 --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to javaposse@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to javaposse+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
