Re: [epl-discuss] Next Round of Proposed Revisions to the EPL

[Till Jaeger <till.jaeger@xxxxxxxxx>]

Dear Mike,

Thanks for sharing this draft and allowing us to provide comments.

I have the following remarks:

1.
The definition of "Modified Work" shifts the EPL from a strong copyleft to a
weak copyleft (at least to some people's interpretation). I think this is
intended and I suppose most people will be very happy with that change.

2.
Whereas the changes in sec. 1 are fine, the new wording in sec. 2 could have
some unwanted side effects. The grant of rights should be as broad as
possible (as with all FOSS licenses). Using the term "Modified Work" instead
of "derivative work" could be interpreted in a way that alterations are not
allowed which are no "modifications" but create a "derivative work". Since
it is unclear in many (all?) jurisdictions what is considered a "derivative
work" we cannot assume that the current definition of "Modified Work" does
cover all alterations needing permission from the copyright holder.
Therefore, I suggest the following text: "prepare derivative works,
including but not limited to Modified Works,"

3.
You might consider to clarify the meaning of sec. 3:
"a) it complies with the terms and conditions of this Agreement;"

I never understood what means "comply" in this provision. Does the own
license agreement contain all license conditions of the EPL?

Which license obligations have to be fulfiled in the case that the
Executable Code is distributed under the EPL (instead of an own license
agreement)? It would be great to facilitate license compliance by providing
a clear and simple list of all license obligations.

4.
It might be useful to check the EPL for full license compatibility with the
Apache-2.0. I have concerns about compatibility if someone wants to copy
code from an Apache-2.0 program into EPL code (e.g. with regard to the
"NOTICE" provision of Apache-2.0).

Thanks all for your work and helping to improve the EPL.

Best regards,

Till

--
Dr. Till Jaeger
Certified Copyright and Media Law Attorney


JBB Rechtsanwälte
Jaschinski Biere Brexl Partnerschaft mbB
Christinenstraße 18/19 | 10119 Berlin
Tel. +49.30.443 765 0  |  Fax +49.30.443 765 22
Sitz der Gesellschaft: Berlin | Registergericht AG Charlottenburg | PR 609 B
www.jbb.de



Am 07.09.2016 um 19:35 schrieb Mike Milinkovich:
> All,
> 
> This has taken far too long, but this morning I posted the next round of
> proposed revisions to the EPL.
> 
> You can find the new version on GitHub here
> <https://github.com/mmilinkov/EPL/blob/master/epl.html>, HTML preview here
> <https://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/mmilinkov/EPL/blob/master/epl.html>,
> with the changes shown here
> <https://github.com/mmilinkov/EPL/commit/d5ce8ae5a0f9377e25db8fa4d15128a1d5500918>.
> 
> For those who prefer, please find attached a PDF with the redlines.
> 
> The main revisions were as follows:
> 
>   * changed the defined term from "Derivative Work" to "Modified Work" to
>     make it clearer that it is a defined term.
>   * added definitions for Source Code and Executable Code.
>   * changed the definition of Modified Work to (hopefully) be more precise.
> 
> I look forward to your feedback. In particular, defining derivative works is
> a big change. We definitely want to make sure we get that right.
> 
> Thanks in advance.
> 
> -- 
> Mike Milinkovich
> mike.milinkovich@xxxxxxxxxxx
> +1.613.220.3223 (mobile)
> @mmilinkov
> 
> 
> 
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