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Re: Don't put your software in the public domain

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On Fri, 03 Jun 2016 09:15:55 -0700, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:

>> [quoted text muted]
> 
> A licence is quite different from a contract. A contract requires some
> indication of explicit agreement by both parties, a licence does not.

More precisely, it requires "mutual consideration", i.e. each party must
provide something of value to the other. If a party doesn't provide
something of value, they can't claim any harm in the event of a breach, as
they haven't lost anything (failure to receive what the other party
promised doesn't count, as it didn't belong to the recipient to start with).

This is why you sometimes see contracts where one party pays a nominal sum
(e.g. one pound/dollar/euro) in return for assets which may have
significant value but also significant liabilities attached. The fact that
they paid /something/ allows them to enforce the contract.

OTOH, a Free software licence is unilateral; the author grants the user
certain rights, with the user providing nothing in return.

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Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-02 00:59 +1000
  Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2016-06-01 18:44 +0300
  Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-01 13:45 -0700
    Re: Don't put your software in the public domain John Wong <gokoproject@gmail.com> - 2016-06-01 17:00 -0400
      Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-02 13:38 +1000
    Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-02 13:43 +1000
  Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Gregory Ewing <greg.ewing@canterbury.ac.nz> - 2016-06-02 18:41 +1200
    Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-02 21:56 +1000
      Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Chris Angelico <rosuav@gmail.com> - 2016-06-02 22:04 +1000
        Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2016-06-02 15:26 +0300
          Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-02 18:11 -0700
    Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Robin Becker <robin@reportlab.com> - 2016-06-02 13:52 +0100
    Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-03 19:53 +1000
      Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Michael Torrie <torriem@gmail.com> - 2016-06-03 07:14 -0600
        Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-04 12:02 +1000
          Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Random832 <random832@fastmail.com> - 2016-06-04 23:46 -0400
      Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-03 09:15 -0700
        Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Nobody <nobody@nowhere.invalid> - 2016-06-03 21:58 +0100
          Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Lawrence D’Oliveiro <lawrencedo99@gmail.com> - 2016-06-03 18:10 -0700
            Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Paul Rudin <paul.nospam@rudin.co.uk> - 2016-06-04 09:04 +0100
          Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-04 12:28 +1000
            Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Nobody <nobody@nowhere.invalid> - 2016-06-06 06:54 +0100
              Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Paul Rudin <paul.nospam@rudin.co.uk> - 2016-06-06 13:36 +0100
              Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-07 01:59 +1000
          Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Paul Rudin <paul.nospam@rudin.co.uk> - 2016-06-04 08:24 +0100
            Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2016-06-04 11:24 +0300
              Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Terry Reedy <tjreedy@udel.edu> - 2016-06-04 15:12 -0400
                Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Marko Rauhamaa <marko@pacujo.net> - 2016-06-05 00:26 +0300
        Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Steven D'Aprano <steve@pearwood.info> - 2016-06-04 12:12 +1000
        Re: Don't put your software in the public domain Paul Rudin <paul.nospam@rudin.co.uk> - 2016-06-04 08:20 +0100

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