| Subject: | Copyright Audit |
Hi,
While preparing your package for Debian, we have come across some issues
that need clarification, particularly with respect to copyright. While
your claim is that the package is copyright by you, we are unsure with
particular pieces of code included and want to make sure everyone is on
the same page.
1. There is a file, LuceneIndexer.java, which (from a cursory google
search) seems like something written either for Lucene, or designed to
be an example for Lucene, or something like that. In the event you did
not write this file yourself, you will need to include appropriate
attribution information including copyright and license. Otherwise, you
are not legally permitted to redistribute the file, and subsequently,
neither is Debian (since we only have your license to go by, and you of
course cannot license us code which you do not own copyright for).
2. There is no copy of the Reuters data included, so copyright is not
necessary for it. However, if you do decide later on to include it, be
sure to have appropriate copyright and licensing information present.
3. In my opinion (note, I'm not a lawyer), the US Constitution copy so
included should not pose a problem, since anything produced by the US
Government is Public Domain anyway (and because its writing preceded the
Berne Convention and similar copyright laws).
I know dealing with legal administrivia like this is annoying, but it is
something that must be done so that we can include this package in
Debian, to protect our users, and most importantly, to protect you as
the author claiming copyright on these files.
Cheers,
Jonathan