[MPlayer-users] Re: License

[Robinson, Chad]

Cyan Ogilvie wrote:

> > I wasn't aware of this. It invalidates some of what I said 
> > earlier. However, it raises another concern. MPlayer isn't
> > really protected by any license, then. There isn't a Copyright
> > notice to be found. That means ANYBODY could steal it and do
> > whatever they wanted with it without reference, credit, or
> > remuneration to the original authors. Shame...
> 
> IANAL, but without a license it means that you have _no_ rights to it,
> it's copyrighted by the author.  It has to be explicitly licensed as
> public domain to in the situation you describe.  As far as I
> understand copyright issues, mplayers license would look like:

I don't profess to be a copyright expert on all countries in the world, but
here in the U.S., a work is copywritten ONLY if a notice states so in a
clear and visible manner. So, according to U.S. copyright laws, MPlayer is
not due copyright protection. Lawyers have gone back and forth about works
that completely lack any mention of copyright, but it would be much safer to
use something like what you list below, rather than nothing at all.

> -------
> Copyright Arpi and co 2001.  Anyone obtaining the source code to the 
> software has the right to redistribute it, providing this copyright
> notice is kept intact, to compile binary code from it for their own
> use, but may not distribute these binaries.  The user may modify the
> source code and redistribute these changes, as long as the changes
> carry this copyright (derivative work), and give credit to the
> original authors.  The act of linking a library against the mplayer
> source code does constitute a derivative work.
> This software carries absolutely no warrenty or implied warrenty and
> the authors are not liable for any damages resulting from it's use in
> any way.
> -------

Anybody who wishes to know more about copyright law in the U.S. can read
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/. It's not as difficult to read as
many people think. Incidentally, Chapter 4, section 401 talks about
where/how to place the notice. Don't be alarmed by text that talks about
registration with the U.S. Copyright Office. This is not a strict
requirement for copyright protection.

Regards,
Chad