[Lazarus] I ported some components, not sure if I can publish them :-(

[Marco van de Voort]

On Sat, May 17, 2008 at 11:22:18AM +0200, Mattias Gaertner wrote:
> > > 
> > > In Germany, "public domain" does not exist. One *can not* give up
> > > the copyright. But one can allow unrestricted use.
> > 
> > So what would you think reading that license?
> 
> You must ask the author to public it under a license that fits better.

To me the text is totally clear. I do this from the perspective of Dutch
law, but afaik most countries continental European law is not that
different, since they all are signatories of the Bern convention.

Before that, let's first define PD, PD is where the 

The first part grants a license with rights comparable to works with expired
copyright (the PD, also in Germany afaik, one just can't "put" it there). 

The second part can mean two things:
- (the more likely one) He grants a non-exclusive license. IOW he can still
do with the source as he pleases. So, the author is not limited by the
license (though that wouldn't be that bad in practice)
- He doesn't waive "Persoonlijksrecht" (personal rights), which are fairly
limited rights like "being able to be named the author of the work". These
rights are pretty much inalienable anyway, but naming them can sometimes
make litigation easier.

In the context of continental law, this is pretty much more liberal than a
BSD license. The BSD license explicit limits misrepresenting the source,
this license is only bound by the law sets. (and its loopholes)