Figured it would be good to get some discussion going over here about it too... This was originally written by Dodger and posted at PoserPros, and it is based on the Perl Artistic License. As an open-source advocate, I much like it myself, but I figured that you, the Poserites, should also get an eyeball on it and shout out what you think: (repost below) ----8<--------- The Artistic License August 15, 1997 Preamble The intent of this document is to state the conditions under which content may be copied, such that the Copyright Holder maintains some semblance of artistic control over the development of the package, while giving the users of the package the right to use and distribute the Package in a more-or-less customary fashion, plus the right to make reasonable modifications. Definitions "Content" refers to the collection of files distributed by the Copyright Holder, and derivatives of that collection of files created through textual or other modification. "Standard Version" refers to such Content if it has not been modified, or has been modified in accordance with the wishes of the Copyright Holder as specified below. "Copyright Holder" is whoever is named in the copyright or copyrights for the Content. "You" is you, if you're thinking about copying or distributing this Content. "Reasonable copying fee" is whatever you can justify on the basis of media cost, duplication charges, time of people involved, and so on. (You will not be required to justify it to the Copyright Holder, but only to the Poser community at large as a market that must bear the fee.) "Freely Available" means that no fee is charged for the item itself, though there may be fees involved in handling the item. It also means that recipients of the item may redistribute it under the same conditions they received it. 1) You may make and give away verbatim copies of the original form of the Standard Version of this Content without restriction, provided that you duplicate all of the original copyright notices and associated disclaimers. 2) You may apply bug fixes, portability fixes and other modifications derived from the Public Domain or from the Copyright Holder. A Package modified in such a way shall still be considered the Standard Version. 3) You may otherwise modify your copy of this Content in any way, provided that you insert a prominent notice in each changed file stating how and when you changed that file, and provided that you do at least ONE of the following: a) place your modifications in the Public Domain or otherwise make them Freely Available, such as by posting said modifications to Usenet, a known Free Stuff site, or an equivalent medium, or placing the modifications on a major archive site such as uunet.uu.net, or by allowing the Copyright Holder to include your modifications in the Standard Version of the Content. b) use the modified Content only personally or within your corporation or organization. c) rename any non-standard geometry, libraries, textures or other components so the names do not conflict with standard executables, which must also be provided, and provide separate documentation for each non-standard components that clearly documents how it differs from the Standard Version. d) make other distribution arrangements with the Copyright Holder. 4) You may distribute this Content in a form intended for use with software other than the original intended application, provided that you do at least ONE of the following: a) distribute a Standard Version of the components and library files, together with instructions (in the README or equivalent) on where to get the Standard Version. b) accompany the distribution with the machine-readable source of the Content with your modifications. c) give non-standard components non-standard names, and clearly document the differences in the README (or equivalent), together with instructions on where to get the Standard Version. d) make other distribution arrangements with the Copyright Holder. 5) You may charge a reasonable copying fee for any distribution of this Content. You may charge any fee you choose for support of this Content. You may not charge a fee for this Content itself. However, you may distribute this Content in aggregate with other (possibly commercial) programs as part of a larger (possibly commercial) software distribution provided that you do not advertise this Content as a product of your own. 6) If this Content requires prerequisites such as other free content or commercial content, such prerequisites do not automatically fall under the copyright of this Content, but belong to whomever generated them, and may be sold commercially, and may be aggregated with this Content by the copyright holder or an individual licenced to do so. 7) Aggregation of this Content with a commercial distribution is always permitted provided that the Content is identified as such and contains the full Standard Version as well as all copyright information pertaining to same. 8 ) The name of the Copyright Holder may not be used to endorse or promote products derived from this Content without specific prior written permission. Credit may be given, provided that credit is not listed in such a way as to present an appearance of endorsement on the part of the Copyright Holder. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The End ----------8<--------- ...thoughts? /P

Err, The date should read today's date... my bad :? And Dodger wanted to relay that all his free stuff is under this license too, since he's still banned n' stuff. /P

Well, I don't think that would work at all for people who do NOT want their content redistributed. Otherwise, it's pretty fair.

How about if it explicitly states that the copyright holder's copyright notices must always be included in any redistribution, as well as a copy of this license? The preamble should also make clear that this document pertains only to content specifically declared to use this license by the copyright holder. Otherwise some newbie is going to think this license applies to all Poser content everywhere.

It's generous of him to allow redistribution of his freebies, and I recall he did alot of good stuff. Maybe they'll let him log in as a new name. He was saying it was his wife who was speaking for him prior to the recent URL redirect problem, so maybe they don't ban a person for the errors of a spouse.