Initial Paragraph of OSLAFL

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Initial Paragraph of OSL/AFL

OSL

AFL

This Open Software License (the "License") applies to any original work of authorship (the "Original Work") whose owner (the " Licensor ") has placed the following notice immediately following the copyright notice for the Original

Work:

This Academic Free License (the "License") applies to any original work of authorship (the "Original Work") whose owner (the "Licensor") has placed the following notice immediately following the copyright notice for the Original Work:

Licensed under the Open Software License version 2.0

Licensed under the Academic Free License version 2.0


This is how the OSL/AFL serve as templates. To distribute an "Original Work" under one of these licenses, merely place the appropriate licensing notice after the copyright notice for that work. Although the law doesn't require a copyright notice, this OSL/AFL requirement serves as a friendly reminder that placing a copyright notice on your writings is always a good idea.

This provision gives the license a name and defines the owner ("Licensor") of intellectual property broadly described as an "original work of authorship." You will recognize that term of art from copyright law:

Copyright protection subsists ... in original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression.... (17 U.S.C. § 102.)

The use of that copyright term of art and the later explicit references to the copyright law (see OSL/AFL sections 9 and 11) suggest that these licenses are intended to be interpreted in light of copyright law and terminology.

The OSL/AFL are also intended to be useful for documentation, pictures, art works, music, and other copyrightable works that often accompany software. Therefore you will not see the words software or program or other words that might limit the reach of this license except in the name of the OSL license itself and in section 10 (referring specifically to "a patent applicable to software" and "combinations of the Original Work with other software").

The OSL and AFL are not just open source software licenses. They are open content licenses.

Comparison to Other Licenses

Some open source template licenses (BSD, MPL) require a licensor to modify the words of the license or to append an exhibit to the license in order to associate the license with particular open source software. (MPL sections 1.10, 3.5, 5, and 6.3 and Exhibit A.)

The GPL contains a notice provision similar to the OSL/AFL. A licensor places a notice in his or her Program , but the GPL does not specify where the notice is to be placed. (GPL section 0.)

The CPL is a license between a Contributor and a Recipient . The license applies to the " accompanying program." (CPL first paragraph.) How that program accompanies the license is not specified.

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Open Source Licensing. Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law
Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law
ISBN: 0131487876
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 166

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