> > To sum it up: > > > > 1) Is the license DFSG-free as it stands? > > Non-copyrighted (public domain) material cannot have (and does not need) a > licence. > > > 2) Can the author re-distribute his software under, e.g., the BSD license > > now, despite having released it with the above license? > > No. The copyrights having been given away (or annihilated), they cannot be > reclaimed by the author or anybody else. It also means anybody can reuse any > material in any way they like and claim to have unshared copyrights to the > resulting work (this is where GPL-ed work differs most notably from work in > the public domain); strictly speaking this applies only to the parts that are > (in the terms of US law) "original works of authorship" produced by that > person. Doing so would not however affect the original version in any way.
Thanks for a very clear explanation. I do indeed have a statement from the author saying that he wrote it all, except for one file which is covered by the BSD license. I now feel I can safely go ahead and try to make a package of it. -- Pontus Lidman, [EMAIL PROTECTED], Software Engineer No matter how cynical you get, it's impossible to keep up. Scene: www.dc-s.com | MUD: tyme.envy.com 6969 | irc: irc.quakenet.eu.org
