greim@sbsvax.UUCP (Michael Greim) (06/23/88)
Hello, This are again some questions concerning copyright and concerning CURSES. (Remember, I posted such a question some months ago. Thanks to all who answered me) We have received the source of a package called CURSES, which seems to be a total rewrite of the original (and well loathed) Berkeley or AT&T CURSES. The author, Pavel Curtis, states in the headers of the files, that This software is copyright (C) 1982 by Pavel Curtis Permission is granted to reproduce and distribute this file by any means so long as no fee is charged above a nominal handling fee and so long as this notice is always included in the copies. Other rights are reserved except as explicitly granted by written permission of the author. My questions are 1.) Has the status of this software changed since 1982, i.e. is it still in the public domain? 2.) Where can I reach Pavel Curtis to ask him for the right to modify his source and include his software in any program ? 3.) Why do people use old CURSES with its lots of bugs and inefficiencies, if this one is superior, as it seems to be? Thanks for any answer, Michael PS : I will summarize to the net. -- +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | UUCP: ...!uunet!unido!sbsvax!greim | Michael T. Greim | | or greim@sbsvax.UUCP | Universitaet des Saarlandes | | CSNET: greim%sbsvax.uucp@Germany.CSnet| FB 10 - Informatik (Dept. of CS) | | ARPA: greim%sbsvax.uucp@uunet.UU.NET | Bau 36, Im Stadtwald 15 | | Phone: +49 681 302 2434 | D-6600 Saarbruecken 11, West Germany | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | # include <disclaimers/std.h> | +------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
friedl@vsi.UUCP (Stephen J. Friedl) (06/25/88)
In article <522@sbsvax.UUCP>, greim@sbsvax.UUCP (Michael Greim) writes: > [question on "PD" curses by Pavel Curtis] > > My questions are > 1.) Has the status of this software changed since 1982, i.e. is > it still in the public domain? Please be very careful here folks. *************************************************************** ******** "Public domain" means "absense of copyright" ********* *************************************************************** Put another way, when you put your software in the public domain, you are giving away >all< of your rights. Once it is PD, you cannot put restrictions on it ("commercial use prohibited", "military use prohibited", "you gotta pay me", etc.). Public domain means you are really giving it away. If, on the other hand, you wish to retain your rights -- entirely reasonable -- it should be copyrighted. "Copyright 1988 by me, permission granted for noncommercial use". This is how the FSF handles GNU: read the GNU docs -- "GNU is not in the public domain". When we signed up for uunet, part of the netnews source distribution included an excellent article by Jordan Breslow. He is an attorney practicing copyright law and computer law, and he describes in pretty good detail all of the above plus more. I'll send a copy to anybody who asks; if there is enough interest I'll post it. It is very enlightening and entertaining reading. I wish the moderators of the various sources groups would examine the PD/copyright status of their submissions and insure that these terms are not used interchangeably. I cringe when I see (for example) the C Users Group have in their "Directory of PD C source code" say "CUG cannot (and will not) distribute software that is not in the public domain. ... When a disk is submitted with copyright notices, we try to identify them and include them on the outside of distribution disks." Maybe I'm just being picky, but it seems that it would behoove us to find out and be safe. Steve P.S.: I'm not a lawyer and I'm proud of it :-). -- Steve Friedl V-Systems, Inc. (714) 545-6442 3B2-kind-of-guy friedl@vsi.com {backbones}!vsi.com!friedl attmail!vsi!friedl Nancy Reagan on the Free Software Foundation : "Just say GNU"
wnp@dcs.UUCP (Wolf N. Paul) (06/25/88)
In article <522@sbsvax.UUCP> greim@sbsvax.UUCP (Michael Greim) writes: >3.) Why do people use old CURSES with its lots of bugs and inefficiencies, if > this one [Pavel Curtis'] is superior, as it seems to be? Well, old curses or SysV curses comes with every UNIX system; if you use it in your source, the source is bound to be compatible. If you use any kind of a replacement library instead of the standard distribution, you almost have to distribute that replacement library with your source. -- Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101 UUCP: killer!dcs!wnp ESL: 62832882 DOMAIN: wnp@dcs.UUCP TLX: 910-380-0585 EES PLANO UD