Re: License terms for pandoc's default templates

[John MacFarlane <fiddlosopher-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w@public.gmane.org>]

These are issues that go beyond my legal knowledge. I don't think the generated documents
would count as redistributions of the templates.  They are derivative works, certainly, which is
relevant to the GPL license but maybe not BSD?

What I can say is that I certainly never intended a requirement that documents generated
using these templates contain a copyright or license notice.


> On Jul 19, 2023, at 5:14 PM, 'Julian Reich' via pandoc-discuss <pandoc-discuss-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFFw@public.gmane.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'd like to ask for clarification on the license terms for pandoc's default template files.
> According to the COPYRIGHT file, pandoc's templates can be licensed under either the GPL version 2 (or any later version) or the 3-clause BSD license.
> Taking these licenses literally, I've come to the conclusion that we might be required to include a copyright notice and the license text (of our choice) in the documents generated from these templates (and/or in the accompanying materials).
> This would not be a problem per se, pandoc is a great and immensely useful tool, and we want to make sure we are using it in accordance with its license terms.
> However, while I suppose you could interpret the license terms that way, I'm not so sure that was the intent.
> 
> For example from the 3-clause BSD license:
> 
> > 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
> > 
> > 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
> 
> I guess it boils down to whether the generated documents are considered "redistributions" of the templates.
> I may be way off (not a lawyer), but perhaps others have also wondered about this, and it might even be worth adding some clarifying wording to the COPYRIGHT file.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> Julian Reich
> 
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