Mod Archive Forums
Website => Help & Support => Help Support Topics Archive => Topic started by: Wuzzy on August 25, 2014, 21:23:18
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Hi!
I guess this question goes straight to the admins.
What does it actually mean when a module has been “licensed under the Mod Archive Distribution license”?
If I read the license, it does not make much sense to me. The linked license (http://modarchive.org/index.php?terms-upload) contains just the upload terms, so they must be for the uploader, right? But there’s not a single term for those who use that module.
Can I consider modules which are under the so-called “Mod Archive Distribution license” to be in the Public Domain?
If not, please answer these questions:
- Is copying under this license allowed?
- Are derivate works under this license allowed?
- Is any commercial usage of such a module unter this license allowed? (“commercial usage” is a broad term and also starts with showing advertisement banners on a website)
- Which other restrictions or conditions on usage of such a module exist (if any)?
As an example, here is a very old module from 1997 which has this weird license:
http://modarchive.org/index.php?request=view_by_moduleid&query=33429
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No, it is most definitely not public domain - that would be a separate license which can be set by the artists themselves. The default license applies to any module by default, including legacy modules where it's not clear where they come from, so the default and safe way of handling this is: ask the author (http://modarchive.org/index.php?faq-licensing). We cannot do this for you, sorry.
If you need redistributable music for a game or such, you can already search for PD or CC-licensed tunes.
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Mod Archive Distribution license - a non transferable license created when the uploader agrees to the terms of the site. We are granted sole permission to redistribute the upload, and none of those redistribution rights are passed on to anyone else.
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OK, this explains it, thank you.