[opensource-dev] Third party viewer policy: commencement date

[Soft Linden]

On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 6:45 PM, Carlo Wood <carlo at alinoe.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 20, 2010 at 09:21:25AM -0700, Joe Linden wrote:
>> The updated version of the Third Party Viewer Policy was posted here about a
>> week ago:
>> http://secondlife.com/corporate/tpv.php
>
> That says that if a developer changes the code and distributes it,
> you reserve the right to pursue any and all legal and equitable remedies:
>
> 3 a. If you are a [...] Developer of Third-Party Viewers, you must not:
>  [...] design Third-Party Viewers to [...]
>
> If we believe you are or have been associated with activities that violate
> this paragraph, either within or outside of Second Life, we may take any
> enforcement action we deem appropriate [...] and pursuit of all legal and
> equitable remedies.
>
> 7 d. You (Developer of Third-Party Viewers) assume all risks, expenses, and
>     defects of any Third-Party Viewers that you [use,] develop, or(!) distribute.
>
> This is not compatible with the GPL.
> Therefore, anyone who contributed to the GPL-ed code has a case
> if they want to retract their contribution.

You're running into problems because you're trying to lift bits out of
the policy and treat them as stand-alone statements. At the onset, the
policy says:

"All users and Developers of Third-Party Viewers must agree to the
following sections linked to below, in addition to the Second Life
Terms of Service. If you do not agree, you are not allowed to use
Second Life through a Third-Party Viewer."

The policy is for users and developers making use of Second Life. You
are in no way bound by the TPV Policy if you aren't making use of
Second Life. If you are making use of Second Life, agreeing to the TPV
Policy is part of the exchange.