[Fedora-legal-list] Changing a license on source with nonresponsive or gone author

[Richard Fontana]

On Thu, 12 Mar 2009 21:10:53 -0700
Ray Van Dolson <rayvd at bludgeon.org> wrote:

> Hi all;
> 
> This is in regards to an attempt to package figlet[1] for Fedora.  It
> turns out that part of this package[2] is under a non-free license.
> Attempts to contact the author of this code have been thus far
> unsuccessful, and I'm wondering as to the best way to proceed.
> 
> The license currently in place on these files indicate that any
> changes to the code needs to be emailed to the original author within
> 30 days. Would this cover licensing changes as well?  I'm wondering
> if we could just change the license on this code, notify the author
> via the email address provided and call it good (the author's email
> address isn't bouncing, but appears to be inactive).

The licensing terms are not part of what you are getting permission to
modify (at least in the sense of transforming it into a less
restrictive license).  So, no.  

 - RF