During a review of the current legal documents, our legal team found a couple of things they suggest us to change. I'm listening the changes below and plan to update the documents in the next days.

http://en.opensuse.org/Legal will get a new section called "openSUSE Build Service" which will get added after the section called "Contributions to openSUSE".

The new section currently reads as follows and I'm discussing now to change the "Service" to the "Build Service": ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ openSUSE Build Service (the “Service”)

You understand and agree that the Service is provided on an AS IS and AS AVAILABLE basis. Novell may discontinue the Service at any time. Novell disclaims all responsibility and liability for the availability or reliability of the Service. Novell also reserves the right to modify, suspend or discontinue the Service with or without notice at any time and without any liability to you. You should back up any of your data stored in the Service. Support services, if any, are available by means of separate agreement with Novell. You represent and warrant that (a) all of the information provided by you to Novell to participate in the Services is correct and current; and (b) you have all necessary right, power and authority to enter into these Terms of Service.

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your Service password and account, and are responsible for all activities that occur thereunder. Novell reserves the right to refuse service to anyone at any time without notice for any reason. After a period of inactivity, Novell reserves the right to disable or terminate your account. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The changes to the distribution document come from a review about creating modified versions of openSUSE and the ownership of these modified versions. To this end, there are three related changes:

1) We are making it clear that people who create modified copies of openSUSE (such as LiveDVDs or appliances with additional software) own their creation. The openSUSE Project only claims ownership of the original bits.

2) We are clarifying that The openSUSE Project is not claiming ownership of all the packages within the distribution. The upstream projects own their code (e.g. the FSF owns GCC).

3) We are ensuring people understand their right to modify openSUSE, as long as they follow the Trademark Guidelines. While the first paragraph makes it clear that the collective copyright is licensed under an open source license, and the Trademark Guidelines address modified works, we wanted to make it clear further down as well.

The changes are all in Paragraph 3, and I've marked the three changes (one removal, two additions below):

openSUSE 11.2 and each of its components, including the source code, documentation, appearance, structure, and organization, are copyrighted by The openSUSE Project and others and are protected under copyright and other laws. Title to openSUSE 11.2 and any component, or to any copy (deleted: "modification, or merged portion") , will remain with the aforementioned (new) "or its licensors", subject to the applicable license. The "openSUSE" trademark is a trademark of Novell, Inc. in the US and other countries and is used by permission. This agreement permits you to distribute unmodified (new) "or modified" copies of openSUSE 11.2 using the “openSUSE” trademark on the condition that you follow The openSUSE Project’s trademark guidelines located at http://www.opensuse.org/Legal. You must abide by these trademark guidelines when distributing openSUSE 11.2, regardless of whether openSUSE 11.2 has been modified.

Andreas