Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!samsung!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!star.cs.vu.nl!ast@cs.vu.nl From: ast@cs.vu.nl (Andy Tanenbaum) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Request for permission (Important) Message-ID: <9898@star.cs.vu.nl> Date: 8 May 91 19:17:19 GMT Sender: news@cs.vu.nl Organization: Fac. Wiskunde & Informatica, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam Lines: 177 Open letter to everyone who has contributed utility programs or other recognizable software to MINIX. As a practical matter, it does not apply to bug fixes and other items that would not be recognizable as copyrightable. It also doesn't apply to those people who have already filled in the permission form. This step does not mean that anything is going to change. It is just that the lawyers want to know that they really have permission to use people's software. It is also useful to me to know what is copyright and what is public domain. At present, this is not always clear. Lack of any notice usually means copyright, but not always (depends on whether the country it was written in was a signatory to the Berne Convention at creation time.) Andy Tanenbaum (ast@cs.vu.nl) -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prentice-Hall would like to have the intellectual property rights in the MINIX software more explicitly spelled out. What I would like to do is have you formally copyright the MINIX software you have written, in your name, and then have you grant PH a nonexclusive right to use it. That way you retain full rights to your software but PH's lawyers know that they are allowed to use it. Lawyers are funny like that. Could you please tell me the year the software was written and the exact name to use for the copyright. Copyright notices always have the form: Copyright 1990 by John Doe I will include that in all future releases of the software. The next step is for you to cut this message along the dashed line, print it out, read it, and hopefully sign it and send it to me by post office mail. Alternatively, you can put the software into the public domain, in which case you lose all your rights. Intermediate forms such as "This is public domain except that you can't ..." have no legal validity. The GNU copyleft would never stand up in court, but FSF is safe because their software is also copyright, which will stand up in court if need be. Please let me know what you would like to do. My own suggestion is that you keep your copyright so you have control over your work. Of course if you want to retain copyright and do not wish to grant Prentice-Hall permission to sell and license it, please let me know and I will remove it from MINIX. While I am at it, I'd also like to get the same permission for using your software in Amoeba. Thus after the dotted line are two copyright forms. When printing them, please be sure they come out on two separate pages. Each is 66 lines. Thank you very much. Andy Tanenbaum Dept. of Math and Computer Science Vrije Unversiteit De Boelelaan 1081a 1081 HV Amsterdam The Netherlands - - - - - - - - - - - - - cut here and print the portion below - - - - - - - I hereby grant permission to Prentice-Hall, Inc. of Englewood Cliffs, NJ to incorporate software I have written, known as (Put names of programs here) and referred to hereafter as The Software, into the MINIX operating system subject to the following conditions. 1. I retain the copyright to The Software. 2. I retain the right to grant other parties permission to use The Software in any way and under any conditions I see fit, including commercial use of The Software. 3. Prentice-Hall shall display my name in all copies of The Software and shall specify that I am the author. 4. Prentice-Hall shall have the right to modify and improve The Software. 5. Prentice-Hall may sell or license The Software without paying me any fees or royalties. 6. This permission is worldwide and applies to all versions of MINIX, including versions that may be made in the future. ...................................... Printed name(s) ...................................... Signature(s) ...................................... Date I hereby grant permission to the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands to incorporate software I have written, known as (Put names of programs here) and referred to hereafter as The Software, into the Amoeba operating system subject to the following conditions. 1. I retain the copyright to The Software. 2. I retain the right to grant other parties permission to use The Software in any way and under any conditions I see fit, including commercial use of The Software. 3. The Vrije Universiteit shall display my name in all copies of The Software and shall specify that I am the author. 4. The Vrije Universiteit shall have the right to modify and improve The Software. 5. The Vrije Universiteit may sell or license The Software without paying me any fees or royalties. 6. This permission is worldwide and applies to all versions of Amoeba, including versions that may be made in the future. ...................................... Printed name(s) ...................................... Signature(s) ...................................... Date