Licensing AGAIN [was: Sharing FontLab Plugin]

Kay C Lan lan.kc.macmail at gmail.com
Fri Jul 22 03:49:46 EDT 2016


On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 2:02 PM, Erik Beugelaar <ebeugelaar at gmail.com> wrote:
> Working as a hired consultant in many teams with colleague developers I have
> never met one developer who did not "steal" some code from whatever resource
> (internet, books etc) to use it in a project that's needs to get done. Every
> developer looks around to prevent inventing the wheel again over and over.

I think a big problem for developers coming from another environment
is that they have become accustomed to using a language that is 'open'
or libre and very much inline with the FSF ideal of sharing the wheel
rather than reinventing it. The thought that the language itself is
propriety, not just the IDE you are using, is probably rather foreign.

You can not copyright an idea, only the implementation of that idea.
If your implementation method is libre, then all the credit is yours.
If your implementation method uses licensed material, then you are
bound by  the license. It may be your voice and your guitar, but if
you are singing Stairway to Heaven then copyright exists and royalties
may be due.

LiveCode the language, just like the AppleScript language, is
proprietary subject to license terms and conditions. If you get 100
people to write 3 different versions of a Hello World app, one in C,
one in LiveCode, and the last in AppleScript. Anyone familiar with all
3 will be able to accurately differentiate which is which - therefore
the uniqueness is unquestionable and a license holder would be able to
say 'hey that's mine, you haven't abided by the license agreement'. In
much the same way that those familiar with the band Spirit and their
song Taurus were able to claim that Stairway to Heaven was ripped off
by Led Zeppelin.

The license for use of the AppleScript language is fairly straight
forward and rather similar to the MIT license. Basically you simple
have to acknowledge that AppleScript is a product of Apple, Apple is a
registered trademark, and Apple take no responsibility for the
functionality of whatever the AppleScript does. If you write a book
with a typewriter and include a snippet of AppleScript, the license
requires you include the above acknowledgement in your book. If you
have a website, the same thing. The license isn't restricted to just
apps you build.  I will happily admit that I've posted LC script
examples on this List that use the 'do ..... as applescript' that have
included snippets of AppleScript statements but have NOT posted the
legally required acknowledgement. This is wrong of me, by the letter
of the license if I post AppleScript code I should include the
acknowledgement. It doesn't matter if I think it's
hard/irrelevant/childish/illogical/inconsequential, I accepted the
license terms and conditions.

Any LC Business/Indy license holder whose app contains 'do .... as
applescript' is legally required to include the Apple acknowledgement.

As for LC Community licenses and the adversity of the FSF to
proprietary software, I'm not sure of the compatibility of mixing
AppleScript with GPL v3. My impression is that the AppleScript License
in no way restricts the sharing or redistribution of code snippets, so
it should be compatible with GPL v3. Although history tells me that I
occasionally don't interpret the GPL in the same way as the FSF does
;-(

In the case of LC Community, the language is licensed under GPL v3 and
it's requirements are it's requirements. The idea may be yours, but if
you've used LiveCode the language to implement that idea, even if it's
pen on napkin, that implementation is subject to the GPL v3 license.
These may seem unfair/counterproductive/counterintuitive but it
doesn't matter, the license is what the license is, it's requirements
are what they are and you either agree to them and use LC, or you
don't.

I think a plain English License Guide would be helpful, not just to
those new to programming, OSS and LC Community, but also to seasoned
coders who may have come from a lifelong background of libre languages
where they may have never thought that the programming language itself
my come with license requirements.

AppleScript is a registered product of Apple. Apple is a registered
Trademark. ;-)




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