The Berkeley Software Distribution ("BSD") license has proven very effective over the years at allowing for a wide spread of work throughout both commercial and non-commercial products. For programmers whose primary intention is to improve the general quality of available software, it is arguable that there is no better license than the BSD license, as it permits improvements to be used wherever they will help, without idealogical or metallic constraint.
This is of particular value to those who produce reference implementations of proposed standards: The case of TCP/IP clearly illustrates that freely and universally available implementations leads the rapid acceptance of standards -- often even being used instead of a de jure standard (eg, OSI network models).
With the rapid proliferation of software licensed under the GNU General Public License, however, the continued success of this role is called into question. Given that the inclusion of a few lines of "GPL-tainted" work into a larger body of work will result in restricted distribution -- and given that further work will likely build upon the "tainted" portions, making them difficult to remove at a future date -- there are inevitable circumstances where authors would, in order to protect their goal of providing for the widespread usage of their work, wish to guard against such "GPL-taint".
In addition, one can imagine that companies which operate by producing and selling (possibly closed-source) code would wish to protect themselves against the rise of a GPL-licensed competitor. While under existing licenses this would mean not releasing their code under any form of open license, if a license existed under which they could incorporate any improvements back into their own (commercial) products then they might be far more willing to provide for non-closed distribution.
For the above reasons, we put forth this "BSD Protection License": A license designed to retain the freedom granted by the BSD license to use licensed works in a wide variety of settings, both non-commercial and commercial, while protecting the work from having future contributors restrict that freedom.
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution, and modification follow.
BSD PROTECTION LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION, AND MODIFICATION
This license governs the copying, distribution, and modification of the Program. Other activities are outside the scope of this license; The act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program.
You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice; keep intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be reproduced and included in the source code, documentation, and/or other materials provided in a manner in which such notices are normally distributed.
b) The derivative work must be clearly identified as such, in order that it may not be confused with the original work.
c) The license under which the derivative work is distributed must expressly prohibit the distribution of further derivative works.
You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute the resulting derivative works, provided that you meet the following conditions:
a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be reproduced and included in the source code, documentation, and/or other materials provided in a manner in which such notices are normally distributed.
b) You must clearly indicate the nature and date of any changes made to the Program. The full details need not necessarily be included in the individual modified files, provided that each modified file is clearly marked as such and instructions are included on where the full details of the modifications may be found.
c) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this License.
You may not copy or distribute the Program or any derivative works except as expressly provided under this license. Consequently, any such action will be taken as implied acceptance of the terms of this license.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS 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 HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (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, EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
