[Openfontlibrary] Non-Copyleft Openfontlibrary

[Fontfreedom at aol.com]

In a message dated 11/4/2008 4:07:09 AM Pacific Standard Time,  cfynn at gmx.net 
writes:
>However I don't want to see any version of that  font being sold for 
>profit or falling under a commercial or proprietary  license - or someone 
>making minor modifications and copyrighting them.  That would just be 
>allowing someone else to cynically take financial  advantage of all my 
>hard work without doing much of anything themselves  or it could mean 
>that I couldn't make some improvement in my own font  because someone 
>might claim the improvement was already  copyright.
>
>
>I'm would be foolish to donate land for a  public park without ensuring 
>that and noone could come along, erect a  small fence and claim it as 
>their own personal or commercial  property.
>
>Releasing a font under GPL or OFL license simply  ensures the font can 
>freely be used or modified by anyone and that no  one can claim 
>proprietary or commercial rights.
>
>If  somebody does want a similar font to sell under a commercial license 
>I'm  perfectly willing to develop one for them for a fair price.
My vision is more  along the lines of:

Someone takes a basic, high quality font with a  copycenter license or public 
domain dedication.
They use that as a base,  making it into "the banana font" and Sarah's Swirly 
Sans Serif, then sells those  as commercial fonts. If you look at the 
programming post, you will see how the  best programmers know how to use snippets of 
other people's work to create their  own. I also imagine someone may grab 
glyphs, etc. from several different open  fonts, combine them into one, with their 
own style...

> The CC-BY  License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/
>
>This license  requires attribution - and for any *reuse* or distribution, 
>requires  that the original license terms must be made clear to  others.
>
>Does this mean if someone uses a font under this license  to print a book
>(which could be considered a kind of "reuse") that the  original license 
>terms must be printed or indicated in the book? Does  there have to be an 
>attribution?

Rejon, you work for CC, can you  explain this to us?
CC Licenses are somewhat long, have some quirks, and  mainly people get 
confused between CC-BY, CC-BY-SA, CC-BY-SA-ND, etc...I've seen  too many webpages & 
content which simply say you may reuse this (whatever it  is I created) under 
a Creative Commons license, but then failing to say which  one, which leaves 
people in the dark as to what the author is saying they can  and cannot do 
with the content.

> The MIT/X11  License
>
>As a font developer why should I particularly want to let  anyone 
>"sublicense, and/or sell copies" of a font they got freely from  me?
>
>I'm happy to share or  but I don't particularly want  anyone sub 
>licensing or distributing copies for profit.

This is  probably the best example of what licenses for a good open reusable 
font library  ought to be.
Simple, understandable, you decide it's ok with you, or you  decide it's not.

>> Zope Public License (ZPL)

>As a font  developer why would I ever want to use a license which states 
>"This  software consists of contributions made by Zope Corporation"  - I  
>don't even know who they are and the  Zope Corporation didn't  contribute 
>to any font software I made.

I never saw that in the Zope License ... Maybe you read a version I did  not.
Here is the Zope Public License (ZPL) 2.1:

Zope Public License (ZPL) Version 2.1
A copyright notice accompanies  this license document that identifies the 
copyright holders.
This license has  been certified as open source. It has also been designated 
as GPL compatible by  the Free Software Foundation (FSF).
Redistribution and use in source and  binary forms, with or without 
modification, are permitted provided that the  following conditions are met:
Redistributions in source code must retain the  accompanying copyright 
notice, this list of conditions, and the following  disclaimer. 
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the accompanying  copyright 
notice, this list of conditions, and the following disclaimer in the  
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. 
Names  of the copyright holders must not be used to endorse or promote 
products derived  from this software without prior written permission from the 
copyright holders.  
The right to distribute this software or to use it for any purpose does not  
give you the right to use Servicemarks (sm) or Trademarks (tm) of the 
copyright  holders. Use of them is covered by separate agreement with the copyright  
holders. 
If any files are modified, you must cause the modified files to  carry 
prominent notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any  change. 
Disclaimer
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS  ``AS IS'' AND ANY 
EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED  TO, THE IMPLIED 
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR  PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN 
NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR  ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, 
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES  (INCLUDING, BUT NOT 
LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;  LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR 
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON  ANY THEORY OF 
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT  (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR 
OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS  SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED 
OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 
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