1BSD Protection License 2 3February 2002 4 5Preamble 6 7-------- 8 9The Berkeley Software Distribution ("BSD") license has proven very effective 10over the years at allowing for a wide spread of work throughout both 11commercial and non-commercial products. For programmers whose primary 12intention is to improve the general quality of available software, it is 13arguable that there is no better license than the BSD license, as it permits 14improvements to be used wherever they will help, without idealogical or 15metallic constraint. 16 17This is of particular value to those who produce reference implementations of 18proposed standards: The case of TCP/IP clearly illustrates that freely and 19universally available implementations leads the rapid acceptance of standards 20-- often even being used instead of a de jure standard (eg, OSI network 21models). 22 23With the rapid proliferation of software licensed under the GNU General Public 24License, however, the continued success of this role is called into question. 25Given that the inclusion of a few lines of "GPL-tainted" work into a larger 26body of work will result in restricted distribution -- and given that further 27work will likely build upon the "tainted" portions, making them difficult to 28remove at a future date -- there are inevitable circumstances where authors 29would, in order to protect their goal of providing for the widespread usage of 30their work, wish to guard against such "GPL-taint". 31 32In addition, one can imagine that companies which operate by producing and 33selling (possibly closed-source) code would wish to protect themselves against 34the rise of a GPL-licensed competitor. While under existing licenses this 35would mean not releasing their code under any form of open license, if a 36license existed under which they could incorporate any improvements back into 37their own (commercial) products then they might be far more willing to provide 38for non-closed distribution. 39 40For the above reasons, we put forth this "BSD Protection License": A license 41designed to retain the freedom granted by the BSD license to use licensed 42works in a wide variety of settings, both non-commercial and commercial, while 43protecting the work from having future contributors restrict that freedom. 44 45The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution, and modification 46follow. 47 48BSD PROTECTION LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION, AND 49MODIFICATION 50 51---------------------------------------------------------------- 52 530. Definitions. 54 55a) "Program", below, refers to any program or work distributed under the terms 56of this license. 57 58b) A "work based on the Program", below, refers to either the Program or any 59derivative work under copyright law. 60 61c) "Modification", below, refers to the act of creating derivative works. 62 63d) "You", below, refers to each licensee. 64 651. Scope. 66This license governs the copying, distribution, and modification of the 67Program. Other activities are outside the scope of this license; The act of 68running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is 69covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program. 70 712. Verbatim copies. 72You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program as you receive it, 73in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on 74each copy an appropriate copyright notice; keep intact all the notices that 75refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other 76recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program. 77 783. Modification and redistribution under closed license. 79You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute the 80resulting derivative works, provided that you meet the following conditions: 81 82a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be reproduced and 83included in the source code, documentation, and/or other materials provided in 84a manner in which such notices are normally distributed. 85 86b) The derivative work must be clearly identified as such, in order that it 87may not be confused with the original work. 88 89c) The license under which the derivative work is distributed must expressly 90prohibit the distribution of further derivative works. 91 924. Modification and redistribution under open license. 93You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute the 94resulting derivative works, provided that you meet the following conditions: 95 96a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be reproduced and 97included in the source code, documentation, and/or other materials provided in 98a manner in which such notices are normally distributed. 99 100b) You must clearly indicate the nature and date of any changes made to the 101Program. The full details need not necessarily be included in the individual 102modified files, provided that each modified file is clearly marked as such and 103instructions are included on where the full details of the modifications may 104be found. 105 106c) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in 107part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be 108licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this 109License. 110 1115. Implied acceptance. 112You may not copy or distribute the Program or any derivative works except as 113expressly provided under this license. Consequently, any such action will be 114taken as implied acceptance of the terms of this license. 115 1166. NO WARRANTY. 117THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, 118INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND 119FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE 120COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE 121PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, 122SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR 123INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF 124SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS 125INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN 126CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT, EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS 127BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. 128 129