[XML-DEV Mailing List Archive Home] [By Thread] [By Date] [Recent Entries] [Reply To This Message] Re: SAX2: Which license?
Let me pretend to be a lawyer, and then a consultant. Pretend Lawyer: It is highly debatable that APIs and other software to software interfaces are protectable. The case law is muddled but the "common practice" is quite clear. Would Microsoft allow Wine or Samba if they thought that the Windows API or SMB protocols were protectable? How about the re-implementations (against Sun's wishes) of the Java API? Note that Sun protects the Java API through *trademark law* not copyright. When Microsoft hacked into AOL's messaging protocols, AOL fought back by changing the protocol, not by suing. http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1005-200-1436501.html When people DO try to go to court about a protocol, it is typically because they have embedded some trademark in it (e.g. Sega Vs. Accolade). I observe that it is the implicit concensus in the computer community that APIs, protocols, and so forth are either not protectable or that the case is so likely to go against you that it isn't worth trying. Consultant: What problem are you trying to solve? Whatever it is, licenses designed for code are not likely to reach your goals with respect to an API. If you want to allow anyone to use SAX anywhere in any way for any project then what's wrong with putting it in public domain? Other licenses exist to stop some particular action (e.g. commercial use). What are you trying to prevent? I use implementations of SAX (parser, app and infrastructure library) that do not in any way use code from your site. I don't see how your license can affect that use at all. -- Paul Prescod - ISOGEN Consulting Engineer speaking for himself When I'm gone, boxing will be nothing again. The fans with the cigars and the hats turned down'll be there, but no more housewives and little men in the street and foreign presidents. .... I was the onliest boxer in history people asked questions like a senator. -- Muhammad Ali xml-dev: A list for W3C XML Developers. To post, mailto:xml-dev@i... Archived as: http://www.lists.ic.ac.uk/hypermail/xml-dev/ and on CD-ROM/ISBN 981-02-3594-1 To unsubscribe, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; unsubscribe xml-dev To subscribe to the digests, mailto:majordomo@i... the following message; subscribe xml-dev-digest List coordinator, Henry Rzepa (mailto:rzepa@i...)
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