* Wrote about GPL Section 9, 10, 11, and 12
(chapter{Odds, Ends, and Absolutely No Warranty}): Wrote chapter.
			
			
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							|  | @ -1233,31 +1233,66 @@ free without otherwise negating parts of the license. | |||
| %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% | ||||
| \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. | ||||
| 
 | ||||
| 
 | ||||
| %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% | ||||
| \chapter{Integrating the GPL into Business Practices} | ||||
| 
 | ||||
|  |  | |||
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	 Bradley M. Kuhn
						Bradley M. Kuhn