* Wrote about GPL Section 9, 10, 11, and 12

(chapter{Odds, Ends, and Absolutely No Warranty}): Wrote chapter.
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Bradley M. Kuhn 2003-05-29 20:16:16 +00:00 committed by Bradley M. Kuhn
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@ -1233,31 +1233,66 @@ free without otherwise negating parts of the license.
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\chapter{Odds, Ends, and Absolutely No Warranty}
\section{GPL \S 9}
\S 0--7 constitute the freedom-defending terms of the GPL. The balance
of the GPL handles administrivia and issues concerning warranties and
liability.
\section{GPL \S 9: FSF as stewards of GPL}
\label{GPLs9}
\section{GPL \S 10}
FSF reserves the exclusive right to publish future versions of the GPL\@;
\S 9 expresses this. While the stewardship of the copyrights on the body
of GPL'ed software around the world is shared among thousands of
individuals and organizations, the license itself needs a single steward.
Forking of the code is often regrettable but basically innocuous. Forking
of licensing is disastrous.
FSF has only released two versions of GPL --- in 1989 and 1991. GPL,
version 3, is under current internal drafting. FSF's plan is to have a
long and engaging comment period. The goal of GPL is defend freedom, and
a gigantic community depends on that freedom now. FSF hopes to take all
stakeholders' opinions under advisement.
\section{GPL \S 10: Relicensing Permitted}
\label{GPLs10}
\section{GPL \S 11}
\S 10 reminds the licensee of what is already implied by the nature of
copyright law. Namely, the copyright holder of a particular software
program has the prerogative to grant alternative agreements under separate
copyright licenses.
\section{GPL \S 11: No Warranty}
\label{GPLs11}
There was a case where the disclaimer of a contract was negated because it
was not "conspicuous" to the person entering into the contract. Therefore,
to make such language "conspicuous" people started placing it in bold or caps it. My question
has always been, does that mean all the other parts of the document aren't
important such that they too need to be "conspicuous."
With \S 11, the boilerplate language of all copyright licenses begins.
Sometimes, companies are concerned that there is no default warranty on
GPL'ed software. However, nearly all proprietary software licensing
agreements disclaim warranty as well.
As for disclaiming warranties, remember that there are many types of
warranties, and in some jurisdictions some of them cannot be disclaimed.
Therefore, usually agreements will have both a warranty disclaimer and a
limitation of liability. The former gets rid of everything that can be
gotten rid of, while the latter limits the liability of the actor for any
warranties that cannot be disclaimed (such as personal injury, etc.).
All warranty disclaimer language tends to be shouted in all capital
letters. Apparently, there was once a case where the disclaimer language
of an agreement was negated because it was not ``conspicuous'' to one of
the parties. Therefore, to make such language ``conspicuous'', people
started placing it in bold or capitalizing the entire text. It now seems
to be voodoo tradition of warranty disclaimer writing.
Finally, one important point to remember when reading \S 11 is that \S 1
permits the sale of warranty as an additional service, which \S 11
affirms.
\section{GPL, \S 12}
\label{GPLs12}
There are many types of warranties, and in some jurisdictions some of them
cannot be disclaimed. Therefore, usually agreements will have both a
warranty disclaimer and a limitation of liability, as we have in \S 12.
\S 11 thus gets rid of all implied warranties that can legally be
disavowed. \S 12, in turn, limits the liability of the actor for any
warranties that cannot legally be disclaimed in a particular jurisdiction.
So ends the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License.
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\chapter{Integrating the GPL into Business Practices}