BSD Protection License

February 2002 Preamble

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The Berkeley Software Distribution ("BSD") license has proven very
effective over the years at allowing for a wide spread of work throughout
both commercial and non-commercial products. For programmers whose primary
intention is to improve the general quality of available software,
it is arguable that there is no better license than the BSD license,
as it permits improvements to be used wherever they will help, without
idealogical or metallic constraint.

This is of particular value to those who produce reference implementations
of proposed standards: The case of TCP/IP clearly illustrates that freely
and universally available implementations leads the rapid acceptance of
standards -- often even being used instead of a de jure standard (eg,
OSI network models).

With the rapid proliferation of software licensed under the GNU General
Public License, however, the continued success of this role is called
into question. Given that the inclusion of a few lines of "GPL-tainted"
work into a larger body of work will result in restricted distribution
-- and given that further work will likely build upon the "tainted"
portions, making them difficult to remove at a future date -- there are
inevitable circumstances where authors would, in order to protect their
goal of providing for the widespread usage of their work, wish to guard
against such "GPL-taint".

In addition, one can imagine that companies which operate by producing and
selling (possibly closed-source) code would wish to protect themselves
against the rise of a GPL-licensed competitor. While under existing
licenses this would mean not releasing their code under any form of
open license, if a license existed under which they could incorporate
any improvements back into their own (commercial) products then they
might be far more willing to provide for non-closed distribution.

For the above reasons, we put forth this "BSD Protection License": A
license designed to retain the freedom granted by the BSD license to use
licensed works in a wide variety of settings, both non-commercial and
commercial, while protecting the work from having future contributors
restrict that freedom.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution, and
modification follow.

BSD PROTECTION LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS
FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION, AND MODIFICATION
----------------------------------------------------------------

   0. Definitions.

      a) "Program", below, refers to any program or work distributed
      under the terms of this license.

      b) A "work based on the Program", below, refers to either the
      Program or any derivative work under copyright law.

      c) "Modification", below, refers to the act of creating derivative
      works.

      d) "You", below, refers to each licensee.

   1. Scope.

   This license governs the copying, distribution, and modification of
   the Program. Other activities are outside the scope of this license;
   The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from
   the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based
   on the Program.

   2. Verbatim copies.

   You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program as you
   receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and
   appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice;
   keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the
   absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program
   a copy of this License along with the Program.

   3. Modification and redistribution under closed license.

   You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute
   the resulting derivative works, provided that you meet the following
   conditions:

      a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be
      reproduced and included in the source code, documentation, and/or
      other materials provided in a manner in which such notices are
      normally distributed.

      b) The derivative work must be clearly identified as such, in
      order that it may not be confused with the original work.

      c) The license under which the derivative work is distributed must
      expressly prohibit the distribution of further derivative works.

   4. Modification and redistribution under open license.

   You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute
   the resulting derivative works, provided that you meet the following
   conditions:

      a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be
      reproduced and included in the source code, documentation, and/or
      other materials provided in a manner in which such notices are
      normally distributed.

      b) You must clearly indicate the nature and date of any changes made
      to the Program. The full details need not necessarily be included
      in the individual modified files, provided that each modified file
      is clearly marked as such and instructions are included on where
      the full details of the modifications may be found.

      c) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that
      in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or
      any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all
      third parties under the terms of this License.

   5. Implied acceptance.

   You may not copy or distribute the Program or any derivative works
   except as expressly provided under this license. Consequently,
   any such action will be taken as implied acceptance of the terms of
   this license.

   6. NO WARRANTY.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE
THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT
OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED
TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT, EVEN IF SUCH
HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
