[Corpora-List] license question

[John F. Sowa]

I am very strongly in favor of open source software and
resources, but there are many issues that must be resolved
in order to ensure fair use by everybody involved.  Just
a few:

  1. Even under the current "Mickey Mouse" laws for copyright,
     fair use is allowed for incorporating short quotations
     in reviews.  Any reasonable license for free use, should
     also allow "fair use" of quotations in reviews that are
     published in commercial journals.

  2. The Gnu licenses for software require all modifications
     to be available for free.  However, anyone is allowed to
     copy that free material and charge any price they choose
     to format, reproduce, and distribute it.  In practice,
     this policy never causes any problems, because if one
     distributor charges too much, other distributors can
     provide the same material for free or for any other price
     they choose.

  3. Even when the source material is available for free download,
     it may be so voluminous that users are happy to pay a reasonable
     price to get copies on a CD-ROM or DVD.

  4. For textbooks, literary works, and frequently used reference
     works, a nicely printed and bound volume can be a pleasure
     to read or an enormous convenience.  Even when I'm logged on
     the Internet, I still find it convenient to use my printed
     dictionaries and other reference works.  If anyone charges
     too much, I'll download the material for free, but many books
     are available at prices that are cheaper than the cost of
     paper, toner, and wear on my home printer.

John Sowa