[topicmapmail] PPJTM

[Murray Altheim]

Lars Marius Garshol wrote:
> * Peter P. Jones
> |
> | This is the ISO copyright notice at their website:
> | http://www.iso.org/iso/en/xsite/copyright.html
> | 
> | If I understand that correctly, then not only can I not post that
> | notice in this email so that folks can read it, but anyone using any
> | of the DTDs in the information standards without asking ISO first is
> | breaking the law.

Heh -- I suppose the copyright notice is part of the protected document,
so in this message I guess I'm putting myself in danger. :-0

> Using it is different from reproducing it, and the whole point of
> creating the standard is so that people will use the DTD, so that part
> is not a problem.
> 
> I do agree that from the wording of that notice it seems that it's
> illegal to reproduce the DTD, which quite a few of us have done. (It
> comes with the OKS, for example.) The committee should consider this
> and see whether it is a problem or not. We wouldn't want people to
> think they can't copy the XTM 1.0 DTD.

This was my point about the ISO document -- that absent any legal
statement in the DTD it is actually governed by its parent document,
hence it falls under the copyright statement of that document:

     All ISO publications are protected by copyright. Therefore and
     unless otherwise specified, no part of an ISO publication may
     be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic
     or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilm, scanning,
     without permission in writing from the publisher.

This not only prohibits copying or production of derivative works, it
prohibits usage without permission. (It also contains no statement about
liability, though I'm doubtful if anyone would ever sue ISO.) So strictly
speaking, copying, distributing, using or mucking with the DTD is verboten.

Murray

...........................................................................
Murray Altheim                         http://kmi.open.ac.uk/people/murray/
Knowledge Media Institute
The Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks, MK7 6AA, UK                    .

     Why is it that they impeached Clinton when he lied about having sex
     with a consenting adult, but they aren't talking about impeaching
     Bush over having led the world into war by lying about the presence
     of WMDs in Iraq? Is the US more squeamish about sex than war?