Discussion September 2005

discussion@lists.fsfe.org

14 participants
9 discussions

German software licensing law
by MJ Ray 06 Dec '05

06 Dec '05

Can a software licence in the English language only be valid if it specifies that it is governed by German law? I've been told that the reverse isn't true: an English court would not normally consider a licensing agreement in German only that claimed to be under English law, without some special circumstances. I know even less about German law, so I'm hoping some kind soul on this list knows about this situation. Any pointers or references welcome. This seems to be a common situation with European software. There was also the QPL which was in English and specified Oslo courts, but I care less about that right now. There was a draft of something called the d-fsl published, which was in both English and German and was said to be seeking to satisfy all requirements of German law. Was being in German too part of that? Thanks for reading, -- MJ Ray (slef), K. Lynn, England, email see http://mjr.towers.org.uk/

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Free Software promotional materials
by Stephan Uhlmann 17 Oct '05

17 Oct '05

Hi, in preparation of the Software Freedom Day I'm currently looking for some ready-to-print material for Free Software promotion. That means flyers, posters, leaflets explaining the idea in general. Preferably short, easy to grasp and visually appealing. :) Any hints welcome. Thanks, Stephan

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OpenSolaris logo licence
by Simon Morris 28 Sep '05

28 Sep '05

Hello, Browsing through the OpenSolaris.org website today I came across the "OpenSolaris Fan Buttons and Banners"[0] page. Clicking on a button brings you to a licence page for that image. The full text is below OpenSolaris Fan Button and Banner Trademark License Sun Microsystems, Inc. is pleased to offer you a limited license to use the OpenSolaris Fan Button or Banner depicted below, but does not transfer title in this Fan Button or Banner or its included Sun trademark - OpenSolaris. Your use of an OpenSolaris Technology Fan Button or Banner on your Web site indicates you agree to the following terms of the OpenSolaris Fan Button and Banner Trademark License and of the OpenSolaris Fan Button and Banner Usage Guidelines. 1. The OpenSolaris Technology Fan Button or Banner must be configured on your Web site as an active link back to the OpenSolaris technology web page at http://opensolaris.org. 2. The OpenSolaris Technology Fan Buttons or Banner is intended solely for use and display in HTML on the World Wide Web. Do not use it in advertising/promotional materials, collateral, products, labels, packaging or any other printed material. 3. Your use of the OpenSolaris Technology Fan Button or Banner acknowledges Sun's ownership of the button/banner and the included Sun trademarks, including OpenSolaris, and such use inures to the benefit of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun grants you no rights in the Fan Button or Banner or the included trademarks other than those described herein. Any other use may be considered an infringement. 4. While Sun welcomes constructive criticism of the OpenSolaris technology, You may not use the Fan Button or Banner or any Sun trademark on a web page which contains subject matter which Sun considers, at its sole discretion, in poor taste or to be disparaging to Sun or its products or services. 5. This license is revocable at any time at Sun's sole discretion. In addition, if we find that You are not following the terms of this license or the OpenSolaris Technology Fan Button and Banner Usage Guidelines, we will give You twenty-one (21) days after our electronic notice to either cure the violation or remove the Fan Button or Banner from your web site. Sun further reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to modify this license, the Fan Button and Banner Usage Guidelines, or the Button/Banner itself, or to terminate this entire program or any aspect of it. You will have thirty (30) days after electronic notice to conform to the new changes and/or guidelines. Is this licence acceptable as a free software licence? I'm interested in the following points 4. Sun welcomes constructive criticism but do not use this image on a site that is critical of Sun. 5. Sun reserves the right to revoke the licence for these images at any time Thanks for any opinions you have about it [0] http://www.opensolaris.org/os/about/buttons/ -- ~sm Jabber: mozrat(a)gmail.com www: http://beerandspeech.org

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FFII, NoSWPats Win CNet Award for Outstanding Contribution to SW Development
by Seth Johnson 28 Sep '05

28 Sep '05

Please send congratulations to FFII and Nosoftwarepatents.com for their glorious work keeping software excluded from patentability in Europe! Seth > http://www.cnetnetworks.co.uk/awards/2005_winners.html#contri_software Outstanding Contribution to Software Development Winner: NoSoftwarePatents.com & The Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) NoSoftwarePatents.com and the FFII joined forces last year to campaign against the European software patent directive, which many feared would open the doors to an increasingly litigious marketplace in which small businesses would struggle to survive. In July this year, the European Parliament unexpectedly rejected the directive, a victory which can be attributed to the tireless work of this alliance.

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The IPRED2 (IP rights enforcement)
by Ciaran O'Riordan 16 Sep '05

16 Sep '05

I've made a web page about the IPRED2 proposal from the Commission: http://fsfeurope.org/projects/ipred2/ipred2.en.html And there's a public mailing list for discussion of this: https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/ipred2 The current status is that the proposal has just been released by the Commission. The next thing to happen is the rapporteur has to be chosen, this will happen in October. There are no estimates yet for when it will go to first reading. Info about why this is a problem is on the above webpage. -- Ciarán O'Riordan, ___________________/ Join the Fellowship of FSFE to http://www.compsoc.com/~coriordan/ _/ support the campaigns against software ___________________________________/ patents and IPRED2 http://fsfe.org

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On the Reuters/Slashdot story on the GPLv3
by Georg C. F. Greve 06 Sep '05

06 Sep '05

Hi all, it is unfortunate that while other journalists had the presence of mind to realise confusion of a single journalist for what it was, Slashdot did not. For your information, since Slashdot did not react to my request of clarification, I have posted the attached clarification to LWN.net to hopefully limit the spread of misinformation somewhat. Also I'd like to add one more thing: So far I considered the "internet taxation" misinformation a secondary issue, much less important than the GPLv3 issue itself. Unfortunately, when adding a fix for the worst misinformation about patents, the journalist also added more quotes and material to the issue on DRM and "internet taxation". To make clear you know where this comes from and where I stand, let me point out that I did not advocate internet taxation when speaking with the journalist, nor do I think it is a good idea: Indeed I had long fights with people who suggested something like this during the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society. The journalist asked me whether I knew of any alternatives to DRM, to which I said that many people advocate all sorts of different concepts, including cultural flatrates or production on demand models. When asked whether a cultural flatrate could be considered a kind of tax, I said this might be one way of looking at it. I did not endorse any of these models, only said that alternatives to DRM are thinkable and that we should consider them, because I do consider DRM a very bad idea. I am deeply sorry for that mess: It was the first time we worked with that particular journalist. My apologies for any confusion I may have caused. Regards, Georg ------------------------------ Hi all, there seems to be confusion spread about the GPLv3, based on a Reuters article published today and copied to several locations, including MSNBC from where Slashdot grabbed it. Unfortunately in this article Reuters displayed some items of pure speculation as facts and in doing so oversimplified them to the extent that they became false. The true news is what you can see in this release: We have begun preparing the GPL Version 3 process for real and there will be a long discussion throughout 2006 about the changes made. Since that process will be quite a lot of work, the Free Software Foundations are very happy that Stichting NLnet supports this process and hope that others will do the same. As to what the GPL version 3 draft will contain: Noone has that information right now, it is all in Richard Stallmans head, who has to gather the ideas and get to work on the draft. Until that draft has been published, everything is pure speculation and your guess is as good as mine. Reuters picked up strongly on two of the the points which were made before by Eben Moglen in the eweek article and quoted me falsely. They later did some slight improvement in terms of reducing the oversimplification, but still portrayed things in a rather one-sided way, in particular making mere speculation seem fact, while ignoring the true facts. So the best thing you can do is to ignore that article. It is FUD and I am deeply sorry for this, for I have been centrally (if falsely) quoted as the contributor of it. That has been a most unpleasant experience. Regards, Georg Greve FSFE, President ------------------------------ -- Georg C. F. Greve <greve(a)fsfeurope.org> Free Software Foundation Europe (http://fsfeurope.org) Join the Fellowship and protect your freedom! (http://www.fsfe.org)

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FSF Europe Newsletter
by Free Software Foundation Europe 05 Sep '05

05 Sep '05

1. Heading towards the GPLv3 2. Karsten Gerloff at the ATTAC Germany summer academy 3. AFFS General Meeting 4. Improving the infrastructure 1. Heading towards the GPLv3 The world wide network of Free Software Foundations is currently preparing the next step in the evolution of the GNU General Public License, the most used license in the Free Software world. While there is no doubt that the current version (GPLv2) holds in court and is applicable all over the world, the GPLv3 will address aspects that were not as pressing or did not exist at the time the GPLv2 was written, like programs that are used over the internet. Other issues likely to be of interest are software patents, compatibility with other copyleft licenses, DRM and TCP. The Free Software Foundation Europe is determined to put as much time and energy into this project as it needs to make the GPLv3 as powerful and successful as the GPLv2 is. The FSFE has set up a mailing list for public discussion of GPLv3, to which you are invited to subscribe at https://mail.fsfeurope.org/mailman/listinfo/gplv3 2. Karsten Gerloff at the ATTAC Germany summer academy Karsten Gerloff was asked to give a speech about the current developments within the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and the A2K (Access To Knowledge) Treaty at ATTAC Germany's summer academy in Goettingen. His talk was part of a seminar on intellectual monopoly rights. Karsten was also invited to attend a meeting of the ATTAC "Knowledge Commons" working group. 3. AFFS General Meeting On 13 August, FSFE's UK based associate organisation AFFS held its General Meeting. Ciaran O'Riordan held a talk about what has been achieved with regards to software patentability, and how the road ahead looks like. 4. Infrastructure As August was a quite unspectacular and not many events were scheduled this month, the FSFE team worked on what could be considered "house keeping" -- improving the infrastructure so we will be ready for the next work-intensive months. A new asterisk server allowing Voice Over IP connections within the team and the reorganisation of mail distribution lists and internal data repositories should help improving communication, which is always a challenge when people are spread all over Europe. The Fellowship was another target of improvements: while the current system works well and stable, the time has come for the first round of improvements. A major point is the upcoming migration of the portal site www.fsfe.org from Plone to ez Publish. You can find a list of all FSF Europe newsletters on http://www.fsfeurope.org/news/newsletter.en.html

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FSF Europe at LinuxWorld Conference & Expo 2005
by Volker Dormeyer 03 Sep '05

03 Sep '05

Hello all, as some of you may know already, the FSF Europe (FSFE) [1] will attend the GNU/LinuxWorld Conference & Expo 2005 [2] again. 1. http://fsfeurope.org 2. http://www.linuxworldexpo.de GNU/LinuxWorld is one of the most important tradeshows related to Free Software business applications, all over Europe. The event takes place from November 15 - 17, 2005 in Frankfurt (Germany). Like in the years before, the FSFE will attend as exhibitor with an appropriate booth. To man the booth, we are looking for Fellowship members and/or volunteers interested in Free Software and thus would like to support the FSFE. The main work will be to answer questions and to involve visitors in interesting discussions related to many aspects of Free Software. T-Shirts and other merchandise will be sold, too. Furthermore, it is planned to present the Fellowship program incl. the OpenPGP compliant smartcard again. Please give me a short note, if you are interested in supporting the FSFE this way. A short statement incl. a time frame in which you would prefer to be with us would be a good idea, too. Thanks and regards, Volker -- Volker Dormeyer <volker(a)ixolution.de> Join the Fellowship and protect your Freedom! (http://www.fsfe.org)

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DeshalbFrei launches German free software Blog
by Christoph Neuroth 02 Sep '05

02 Sep '05

Hi, I'll write this one in German as it won't be of much interest for people who don't speak German ;) Hallo, einige dürften ja bereits das DeshalbFrei Wiki kennen, das Leuten, die sich z.B. wenig mit Computern auskennen, freie Software erklären und näher bringen will. Um auf aktuelle Geschehnisse besser eingehen zu können, haben wir nun zusätzlich ein Weblog eingerichtet, dass sich mit diesen Themen beschäftigen soll: * Neuigkeiten rund um das DeshalbFrei Projekt * Neues aus der Community / den Projekten * Neues zu freien Programmen, Formaten und Protokollen * Meldungen über den Einsatz freier Software in Behörden, Schulen und Firmen * Freie Software in der Presse und Literatur zu freier Software Die ersten Beiträge sind schon veröffentlicht, über Feedback freuen wir uns wie immer :) Christoph Neuroth deshalbfrei.org

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Discussion September 2005