Annotation of www/policy.html, Revision 1.2
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4: <title>OpenBSD Copyright Policy</title>
5: <link rev=made href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>
6: <meta name="resource-type" content="document">
7: <meta name="description" content="the OpenBSD copyright policy page">
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9: <meta name="distribution" content="global">
10: <meta name="copyright" content="This document copyright 1996 by OpenBSD.">
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17: <h1>OpenBSD Copyright Policy</h1>
18: <p>
19: Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple - OpenBSD strives to
20: maintain the spirit of the original Berkeley Unix copyrights.
21: </p>
22: <p>
23: The Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
24: use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
25: for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
26: crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
27: advertising.
28: </p>
29: <p>
30: While this means that OpenBSD is has the same broad applicability as
31: the material it was derived from, it also follows that OpenBSD can not
32: include some material which includes more restrictive copyrights, or
33: must limit it's scope - for example GPL style copyrights are not
34: acceptable for inclusion in the kernel or what would constitute a
35: "binary release" of OpenBSD.
36: </p>
37: <h3>Copyright Law</h3>
38: While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
1.2 ! grr 39: this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
1.1 grr 40: copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
41: the creator, unless otherwise assigned. In general the copyright applies
42: only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
43: those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
44: </p>
45: <p>
46: Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
47: <dl>
48: </dt>Original Work
49: <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
50: <dt>Derivative Work
51: <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
52: <dt>Compilations
53: <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
54: </dl>
55: The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
56: is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held be
57: the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
58: added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
59: of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
60: </p>
61: <p>
62: It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
63: as defined by national and international copyright law, not assertions of
64: the copyright holder as to what might or might be copyrighted, nor the
65: conditions for use imposed by the copyright holder.
66: </p>
67: <h3>Permissions - the flip side</h3>
68: </p>
69: Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
70: a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to allow uses
71: permission to use a work beyond that which might be allowed by "fair use"
72: provisions of the copyright laws.
73: </p>
74: This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
75: included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
76: granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
77: At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator
78: asserts that he imposes no restrictions on any use of the material, at
79: the other highly restrictive releases that actually grant no additional
80: rights or impose restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on
81: use of the work.
82: </p>
83: <p>
84: Again, the important points to note are that the release and conditions can
85: only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
86: holder - the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
87: grant additional permissions for the original work, nor impose more restrictive
88: conditions for that work.
89: </p>
90: <p>
91: When a party asserting copyright rights removes prior copyright notices
92: or releases from a work, or attempts to impose permissions or conditions
93: that are in conflict with the permissions or conditions imposed by the
94: originator of the work, these conditions are not binding on the original
95: work. In fact, if their permissions or conditions are contrary to those
96: asserted by the copyright holder of the original work, that party is
97: probably setting up a situation where they no longer have permission to
98: use the work at all, let along impose conditions on its use.
99: </p>
100: <p>
101: Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
102: are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
103: that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
104: apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
105: possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
106: the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
107: of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
108: the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
109: already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
110: more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
111: </p>
112: <h3>Specific Cases</h3>
113: <p>
114: This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
115: some commonly encountered copyrights.
116: </p>
117: <dl>
118: <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
119: The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
120: the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
121: the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
122: or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be included
123: in OpenBSD.
124: </p>
125: <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
126: While AT&T holds the copyrights to much "unix" code and documentation,
1.2 ! grr 127: OpenBSD is based largely on Berkeley (BSD) distributions that contain only
1.1 grr 128: material known to be free of AT&T copyrights, or material to which
129: AT&T has abandoned it's copyright or included licensing terms similar
130: to the Berkeley terms. No material subject to restrictive AT&T
131: copyrights can be included in OpenBSD.
132: </p>
133: <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
134: In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
135: or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
136: granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
137: to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
138: employee and the employer's copyright notice is effectively releases any
139: rights they might have to the work.
140: </p>
141: <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
142: The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
143: that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
144: Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
145: be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
146: are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
147: distribution of Mach sources.
148: </p>
149: <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
150: The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
151: that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
152: are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code. While this may be a noble
153: goal in terms of software sharing, it is a condition that is typically
154: unacceptable for commercial use of software. As a consequence, software
155: bound by the GPL terms can not be included in the kernel or "runtime" of
156: of OpenBSD, though GPL tools may be included as development tools or as
157: part of the system at are "optional" and where there is no adequate substitute.
158: </p>
159: <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
160: Much of OpenBSD is largely based on NetBSD, since some of the OpenBSD
161: developers were involved in the NetBSD project and the general NetBSD
162: license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit such
163: use. Since that time, individuals associated with the NetBSD project
1.2 ! grr 164: or the "NetBSD Foundation" have inserted stricter conditions in the
! 165: copyrights of parts of the NetBSD software. Regardless of the
! 166: legality/propriety of these actions, material including such restrictive
! 167: conditions or derived from that material subsequent to imposition of
! 168: these restrictions can not be included in OpenBSD.
1.1 grr 169: </p>
170: <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
171: Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or include
1.2 ! grr 172: copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
1.1 grr 173: included in OpenBSD, while parts that are subject to GPL or various
174: individual copyright terms can not be include in OpenBSD.
175: </p>
176: <dt>Linux<dd><p>
177: Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
1.2 ! grr 178: can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
1.1 grr 179: subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
180: Linux "distributions" may also be subject additional copyright claims
181: of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
182: included that's not part of the Linux core.
183: </p>
184: <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
185: Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
186: use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
187: Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
1.2 ! grr 188: of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
1.1 grr 189: demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
1.2 ! grr 190: goals of the OpenBSD project.
1.1 grr 191: </p>
192: <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
193: While material that is truly entered into the "Public Domain" can be
194: included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
195: Frequently "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does not
196: really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status, or
197: there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
198: truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and it is offered
199: without restrictions.
200: </dl>
201:
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204: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
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