DFSG-compliance of Unicode Copyright

[Rafael Laboissiere]

Does anyone know whether the Unicode Copyright [1] is DFSG-compliant?

The file /usr/share/perl/5.10.0/unicore/Blocks.txt in perl-modules is
released under this license, but there is no mention to it in
/usr/share/doc/perl-modules/copyright.

[1] http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html

Thanks,

--
Rafael


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[Ben Finney-5]

Rafael Laboissiere <rafael@...> writes:

> Does anyone know whether the Unicode Copyright [1] is DFSG-compliant?

When discussing a specific license, it's best to present the text of
the license in the thread for later reference.

Here is the text of the license as downloaded today:

=====
    Unicode Terms of Use

    For the general privacy policy governing access to this site, see
    the Unicode Privacy Policy. For trademark usage, see the Unicode
    Consortium® Trademarks and Logo Policy.

    Notice to End User: Terms of Use

    Carefully read the following legal agreement ("Agreement"). Use or
    copying of the software and/or codes provided with this agreement
    (The "Software") constitutes your acceptance of these terms

       1. Unicode Copyright.

             1. Copyright © 1991-2008 Unicode, Inc. All rights reserved.

             2. Certain documents and files on this website contain a
             legend indicating that "Modification is permitted." Any
             person is hereby authorized, without fee, to modify such
             documents and files to create derivative works conforming
             to the Unicode® Standard, subject to Terms and Conditions
             herein.

             3. Any person is hereby authorized, without fee, to view,
             use, reproduce, and distribute all documents and files
             solely for informational purposes in the creation of
             products supporting the Unicode Standard, subject to the
             Terms and Conditions herein.

             4. Further specifications of rights and restrictions
             pertaining to the use of the particular set of data files
             known as the "Unicode Character Database" can be found in
             Exhibit 1.

             5. Each version of the Unicode Standard has further
             specifications of rights and restrictions of use. For the
             book editions, these are found on the back of the title
             page. For the online edition, certain files (such as the
             PDF files for book chapters and code charts) carry
             specific restrictions. All other files are covered under
             these general Terms of Use. To request a permission to
             reproduce any part of the Unicode Standard, please
             contact the Unicode Consortium.

             6. No license is granted to "mirror" the Unicode website
             where a fee is charged for access to the "mirror" site.

             7. Modification is not permitted with respect to this
             document. All copies of this document must be verbatim.

       2. Restricted Rights Legend. Any technical data or software
       which is licensed to the United States of America, its agencies
       and/or instrumentalities under this Agreement is commercial
       technical data or commercial computer software developed
       exclusively at private expense as defined in FAR 2.101, or
       DFARS 252.227-7014 (June 1995), as applicable. For technical
       data, use, duplication, or disclosure by the Government is
       subject to restrictions as set forth in DFARS 202.227-7015
       Technical Data, Commercial and Items (Nov 1995) and this
       Agreement. For Software, in accordance with FAR 12-212 or DFARS
       227-7202, as applicable, use, duplication or disclosure by the
       Government is subject to the restrictions set forth in this
       Agreement.

       3. Warranties and Disclaimers.

             1. This publication and/or website may include technical
             or typographical errors or other inaccuracies . Changes
             are periodically added to the information herein; these
             changes will be incorporated in new editions of the
             publication and/or website. Unicode may make improvements
             and/or changes in the product(s) and/or program(s)
             described in this publication and/or website at any time.

             2. If this file has been purchased on magnetic or optical
             media from Unicode, Inc. the sole and exclusive remedy
             for any claim will be exchange of the defective media
             within ninety (90) days of original purchase.

             3. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED IN SECTION C.2, THIS PUBLICATION
             AND/OR SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF
             ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY,
             INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, ANY WARRANTIES OF
             MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR
             NON-INFRINGEMENT. UNICODE AND ITS LICENSORS ASSUME NO
             RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR OMISSIONS IN THIS
             PUBLICATION AND/OR SOFTWARE OR OTHER DOCUMENTS WHICH ARE
             REFERENCED BY OR LINKED TO THIS PUBLICATION OR THE
             UNICODE WEBSITE.

       4. Waiver of Damages. In no event shall Unicode or its
       licensors be liable for any special, incidental, indirect or
       consequential damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever,
       whether or not Unicode was advised of the possibility of the
       damage, including, without limitation, those resulting from the
       following: loss of use, data or profits, in connection with the
       use, modification or distribution of this information or its
       derivatives.

       5. Trademarks.

             1. Unicode and the Unicode logo are registered trademarks
             of Unicode, Inc.

             2. This site contains product names and corporate names
             of other companies. All product names and company names
             and logos mentioned herein are the trademarks or
             registered trademarks of their respective owners. Other
             products and corporate names mentioned herein which are
             trademarks of a third party are used only for explanation
             and for the owners' benefit and with no intent to
             infringe.

             3. Use of third party products or information referred to
             herein is at the user’s risk.

       6. Miscellaneous.

             1. Jurisdiction and Venue. This server is operated from a
             location in the State of California, United States of
             America. Unicode makes no representation that the
             materials are appropriate for use in other locations. If
             you access this server from other locations, you are
             responsible for compliance with local laws. This
             Agreement, all use of this site and any claims and
             damages resulting from use of this site are governed
             solely by the laws of the State of California without
             regard to any principles which would apply the laws of a
             different jurisdiction. The user agrees that any disputes
             regarding this site shall be resolved solely in the
             courts located in Santa Clara County, California. The
             user agrees said courts have personal jurisdiction and
             agree to waive any right to transfer the dispute to any
             other forum.

             2. Modification by Unicode Unicode shall have the right
             to modify this Agreement at any time by posting it to
             this site. The user may not assign any part of this
             Agreement without Unicode’s prior written consent.

             3. Taxes. The user agrees to pay any taxes arising from
             access to this website or use of the information herein,
             except for those based on Unicode’s net income.

             4. Severability. If any provision of this Agreement is
             declared invalid or unenforceable, the remaining
             provisions of this Agreement shall remain in effect.

             5. Entire Agreement. This Agreement constitutes the
             entire agreement between the parties.


EXHIBIT 1
UNICODE, INC. LICENSE AGREEMENT - DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE

    Unicode Data Files include all data files under the directories
    http://www.unicode.org/Public/, http://www.unicode.org/reports/,
    and http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/ . Unicode Software includes
    any source code published in the Unicode Standard or under the
    directories http://www.unicode.org/Public/,
    http://www.unicode.org/reports/, and
    http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/.

    NOTICE TO USER: Carefully read the following legal agreement. BY
    DOWNLOADING, INSTALLING, COPYING OR OTHERWISE USING UNICODE INC.'S
    DATA FILES ("DATA FILES"), AND/OR SOFTWARE ("SOFTWARE"), YOU
    UNEQUIVOCALLY ACCEPT, AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY, ALL OF THE TERMS
    AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE, DO NOT
    DOWNLOAD, INSTALL, COPY, DISTRIBUTE OR USE THE DATA FILES OR
    SOFTWARE.

    COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION NOTICE

    Copyright © 1991-2008 Unicode, Inc. All rights reserved.
    Distributed under the Terms of Use in
    http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html.

    Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person
    obtaining a copy of the Unicode data files and any associated
    documentation (the "Data Files") or Unicode software and any
    associated documentation (the "Software") to deal in the Data
    Files or Software without restriction, including without
    limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
    distribute, and/or sell copies of the Data Files or Software, and
    to permit persons to whom the Data Files or Software are furnished
    to do so, provided that (a) the above copyright notice(s) and this
    permission notice appear with all copies of the Data Files or
    Software, (b) both the above copyright notice(s) and this
    permission notice appear in associated documentation, and (c)
    there is clear notice in each modified Data File or in the
    Software as well as in the documentation associated with the Data
    File(s) or Software that the data or software has been modified.

    THE DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY
    OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE
    WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
    AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
    COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR HOLDERS INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE BE LIABLE FOR
    ANY CLAIM, OR ANY SPECIAL INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR
    ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR
    PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER
    TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR
    PERFORMANCE OF THE DATA FILES OR SOFTWARE.

    Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder
    shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale,
    use or other dealings in these Data Files or Software without
    prior written authorization of the copyright holder.

    Unicode and the Unicode logo are trademarks of Unicode, Inc., and
    may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks and
    registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their
    respective owners.
=====

--
 \     “As we enjoy great advantages from the inventions of others, we |
  `\      should be glad to serve others by any invention of ours; and |
_o__)     this we should do freely and generously.” —Benjamin Franklin |
Ben Finney


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[Andreas Bombe-3]

[Resend because I didn't notice the broken debian-legal address in the
original MFT header]

On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 02:24:30PM +0200, Rafael Laboissiere wrote:
> Does anyone know whether the Unicode Copyright [1] is DFSG-compliant?
>
> The file /usr/share/perl/5.10.0/unicore/Blocks.txt in perl-modules is
> released under this license, but there is no mention to it in
> /usr/share/doc/perl-modules/copyright.
>
> [1] http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html

The license is already used in main for packages such as unicode-data.
perl-modules should of course mention it in its copyright file if a part
of it uses it.

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Andreas Bombe <andreas.bombe@...>    GPG key 0x04880A44


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[Rafael Laboissiere]

* Andreas Bombe <andreas.bombe@...> [2008-07-24 16:52]:

> On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 02:24:30PM +0200, Rafael Laboissiere wrote:
> > Does anyone know whether the Unicode Copyright [1] is DFSG-compliant?
> >
> > The file /usr/share/perl/5.10.0/unicore/Blocks.txt in perl-modules is
> > released under this license, but there is no mention to it in
> > /usr/share/doc/perl-modules/copyright.
> >
> > [1] http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html
>
> The license is already used in main for packages such as unicode-data.
> perl-modules should of course mention it in its copyright file if a part
> of it uses it.

Indeed, the license appears in /usr/share/doc/unicode-data/copyright.
Thanks for the pointer.

(I am forwarding this message to the perl-modules package maintainers, since
they need to take some action.  Should I file a bug report for that?)

Cheers.
 
--
Rafael


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[Francesco Poli-2]

On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:22:38 +1000 Ben Finney wrote:

> Rafael Laboissiere <rafael@...> writes:
>
> > Does anyone know whether the Unicode Copyright [1] is DFSG-compliant?
>
> When discussing a specific license, it's best to present the text of
> the license in the thread for later reference.

Thanks for doing so.
Among other advantages, it will serve as future reference
to be sure which exact license text we are discussing.

A previous (short) thread discussed a license downloadable from
the same URL, but failed to quote the full text:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/07/msg00250.html
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/07/msg00255.html
As a consequence, it's hard to know if what was analyzed at
that time was the same text or a different one...  :-(

>
> Here is the text of the license as downloaded today:

In what follows, I'll try and analyze the license with respect
to the DFSG.
I'll obviously state my own personal opinions.
My usual disclaimers apply: IANAL, TINLA, IANADD, TINASOTODP
(or did we conclude that disclaimers are useless?).

>
> =====
>     Unicode Terms of Use
[...]

>        1. Unicode Copyright.
>
>              1. Copyright © 1991-2008 Unicode, Inc. All rights reserved.
>
>              2. Certain documents and files on this website contain a
>              legend indicating that "Modification is permitted." Any
>              person is hereby authorized, without fee, to modify such
>              documents and files to create derivative works conforming
>              to the Unicode® Standard, subject to Terms and Conditions
>              herein.

Even those files which are marked as modifiable, may only be modified
in conformance with a given standard.
This fails DFSG#3.

>
>              3. Any person is hereby authorized, without fee, to view,
>              use, reproduce, and distribute all documents and files
>              solely for informational purposes in the creation of
>              products supporting the Unicode Standard, subject to the
>              Terms and Conditions herein.

Only a limited permission to reproduce and distribute for specific
purposes is granted.
This fails DFSG#1.
Even use is permitted for specific purposes only.
This fails DFSG#6.

>
>              4. Further specifications of rights and restrictions
>              pertaining to the use of the particular set of data files
>              known as the "Unicode Character Database" can be found in
>              Exhibit 1.

The more permissive Exhibit 1 only applies to the "Unicode Character
Database".  A shame.

[...]
>              6. No license is granted to "mirror" the Unicode website
>              where a fee is charged for access to the "mirror" site.

For profit mirroring (which I see as a form of commercial
redistribution) is forbidden.
This fails DFSG#1.

>
>              7. Modification is not permitted with respect to this
>              document. All copies of this document must be verbatim.

Modifications are in general forbidden.
This fails DFSG#3.

[...]
>        6. Miscellaneous.
>
>              1. Jurisdiction and Venue.
[...]
>              The user agrees that any disputes
>              regarding this site shall be resolved solely in the
>              courts located in Santa Clara County, California. The
>              user agrees said courts have personal jurisdiction and
>              agree to waive any right to transfer the dispute to any
>              other forum.

Choice of venue clause.
This kind of clauses has been discussed to death in many past
debian-legal threads.  My own opinion is that they fail the DFSG.

>
>              2. Modification by Unicode Unicode shall have the right
>              to modify this Agreement at any time by posting it to
>              this site. The user may not assign any part of this
>              Agreement without Unicode’s prior written consent.

It's not clear (at least to me, but remember that I am not an English
native speaker...) which consequences a modification of the Agreement
made by Unicode would have on already downloaded files.
Would they stay under the old version of the Agreement, or would
they magically change restrictions?

>
>              3. Taxes. The user agrees to pay any taxes arising from
>              access to this website or use of the information herein,
>              except for those based on Unicode’s net income.

Taxes?  Which taxes?

[...]

> EXHIBIT 1
> UNICODE, INC. LICENSE AGREEMENT - DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE
>
>     Unicode Data Files include all data files under the directories
>     http://www.unicode.org/Public/, http://www.unicode.org/reports/,
>     and http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/ . Unicode Software includes
>     any source code published in the Unicode Standard or under the
>     directories http://www.unicode.org/Public/,
>     http://www.unicode.org/reports/, and
>     http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/.

[...]

Exhibit 1 includes a permissive non-copyleft license which I think
complies with the DFSG, but, unfortunately, applies only to
some limited files...


--
 http://frx.netsons.org/doc/index.html#nanodocs
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[Andreas Bombe]

On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 07:23:29PM +0200, Francesco Poli wrote:

> On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:22:38 +1000 Ben Finney wrote:
> [...]
> > EXHIBIT 1
> > UNICODE, INC. LICENSE AGREEMENT - DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE
> >
> >     Unicode Data Files include all data files under the directories
> >     http://www.unicode.org/Public/, http://www.unicode.org/reports/,
> >     and http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/ . Unicode Software includes
> >     any source code published in the Unicode Standard or under the
> >     directories http://www.unicode.org/Public/,
> >     http://www.unicode.org/reports/, and
> >     http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/.
> [...]
>
> Exhibit 1 includes a permissive non-copyleft license which I think
> complies with the DFSG, but, unfortunately, applies only to
> some limited files...

Some limited files?  Is there anything that is in Debian or would make
sense to package that is not found inside those directories?


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[Francesco Poli-2]

On Thu, 31 Jul 2008 17:35:04 +0200 Andreas Bombe wrote:

> On Wed, Jul 30, 2008 at 07:23:29PM +0200, Francesco Poli wrote:
> > On Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:22:38 +1000 Ben Finney wrote:
> > [...]
> > > EXHIBIT 1
> > > UNICODE, INC. LICENSE AGREEMENT - DATA FILES AND SOFTWARE
> > >
> > >     Unicode Data Files include all data files under the directories
> > >     http://www.unicode.org/Public/, http://www.unicode.org/reports/,
> > >     and http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/ . Unicode Software includes
> > >     any source code published in the Unicode Standard or under the
> > >     directories http://www.unicode.org/Public/,
> > >     http://www.unicode.org/reports/, and
> > >     http://www.unicode.org/cldr/data/.
> > [...]
> >
> > Exhibit 1 includes a permissive non-copyleft license which I think
> > complies with the DFSG, but, unfortunately, applies only to
> > some limited files...
>
> Some limited files?  Is there anything that is in Debian or would make
> sense to package that is not found inside those directories?

Frankly speaking, I do not know.
I've just analyzed the license text: I haven't had the time to dig into
all those directories to see what is being distributed there and what
is being distributed elsewhere...

The license text is presented in manner which suggests that the first
set of (non-free) conditions apply to everything distributed by
UniCode, Inc., except for some files, which are under the second
set of (DFSG-free) conditions.

If those "some files" are in fact the vast majority of what UniCode,
Inc. distributes, then the following comments apply:

  a) great! things are far better than it would seem!  :-)

  b) the license text is presented in a slightly misleading way  :-(

  c) oh, well...   ;-)


--
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 The nano-document series is here!
..................................................... Francesco Poli .
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[Niko Tyni-3]

Package: perl
Version: 5.10.0-11.1

On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 05:42:01PM +0200, Rafael Laboissiere wrote:

> * Andreas Bombe <andreas.bombe@...> [2008-07-24 16:52]:
>
> > On Thu, Jul 24, 2008 at 02:24:30PM +0200, Rafael Laboissiere wrote:
> > > Does anyone know whether the Unicode Copyright [1] is DFSG-compliant?
> > >
> > > The file /usr/share/perl/5.10.0/unicore/Blocks.txt in perl-modules is
> > > released under this license, but there is no mention to it in
> > > /usr/share/doc/perl-modules/copyright.
> > >
> > > [1] http://www.unicode.org/copyright.html
> >
> > The license is already used in main for packages such as unicode-data.
> > perl-modules should of course mention it in its copyright file if a part
> > of it uses it.
>
> Indeed, the license appears in /usr/share/doc/unicode-data/copyright.
> Thanks for the pointer.
>
> (I am forwarding this message to the perl-modules package maintainers, since
> they need to take some action.  Should I file a bug report for that?)

Sure, doing that now. Thanks for noting this.
--
Niko Tyni   ntyni@...



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