A few things are amiss in the wording:
Jason Filby wrote:
Hi all
Vizzini has spent a lot of time writing a ReactOS IP Policy Document; he's also had it reviewed by lawyers. I agree what's written here, and would like to get some feedback from the community before we publish it as our official policy.
Regards Jason
REACTOS PROJECT DEVELOPMENT POLICY 12 Decenber 2004
(snip)
I. INTRODUCTION
Because of the nature of the ReactOS Project, copyright, patent, and other legal issues regularly arise in the course of development. This document analyzes each of these areas law and explores implications for ReactOS development.
Namely, "... each of these areas law ..." does not make sense. Perhaps it should read "... each of these areas *of* law ..."?
Following are the policies of the ReactOS Project as they relate to copyright:
- Code copying is absolutely never allowed, unless the copied code is in the
public domain or is distributed under a Free software license which permits is combination with a GPL program, such as ReactOS (i.e. is GPL Compatible). You should always assume that you do not have a license unless you are explicitly given one.
I think "... which permits is combination ..." should read "... which permits its combination ...".
2b) Developers are encouraged to NOT attempt to copy the coding style of non-free code. While coding style may not covered by copyright, a similar or identical coding style to a piece of non-free code casts suspicion on the new code.
Perhaps "... may not covered ..." should read "... may not *be* covered ..."?
III. PATENT ISSUES
Software patents have a profound affect on the ReactOS Project. Currently, software patents are legal (i.e. software is statutory matter) in the United States. As a rule, patents are fundamentally incompatible with Free Software, and should be carefully avoided in the context of such projects.
"... affect ..." should be "... effect ...".
- Project participants agree that they will not seek patent protection for any
new developments made in conjunction with ReactOS, or in the alternative, agree in advice to assign ownership of such patents to the ReactOS Foundation, or else to grant a perpetual, irrevocable, transferable, royalty-free license to anyone who wishes to use the patented invention in conjunction with the ReactOS system or in any derivative work of the system (in other words, something like a "patent-left").
Maybe you mean "... agree in advance ..." instead of "... agree in advice ...".
VII. Other
- Trademark and Service Mark Anti-Dilution. Anti-dilution provisions prevent
even the un-related use of a "famous" mark or at trademark that is confusingly similar to a famous mark. ReactOS uses only one mark, the ReactOS mark itself, which does not appear to raise any trademark anti- dilution issues with any other marks.
I think '... "famous" mark or at trademark ...' should read '... "famous" mark or *a* trademark ...'.