RE: Another Lilypond Story

[James Moore]

> > The copyright *is* the license, which belongs exclusively
> > to the copyright holder.  That's the whole idea of a copyright.  Don't
> > attempt to share it with all and sundry, only with BMI/ASCAP or the like
> if
> > you want. A user license would amount to assigning it.
> 
> Sorry, I didn't understand the 2 last sentences (limited English skills).

I don't understand them either (native English speaker, 38 years experience
:-]).

Licenses and copyrights are not the same.

A license is essentially permission to do something.  When you invite
someone over for dinner, you're giving them a license to come over to your
house.  (That's a common example of what a license is in real estate
textbooks.)  You can't have them arrested for trespassing, since they have a
license to use your property.

If you own the copyright on a piece of intellectual property, you have the
ability to grant a license to use it, in much the same way you can grant
licenses to use any type of property that you own.

This is from an American point of view - haven't the faintest idea what
European/Asian/etc concepts look like.

 - James