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Background

I created a mod for minecraft using Minecraft Forge which uses "other" mod. I have the permission from author of the "other" mod to use and distribute his code with my code.

Right now, my LICENSE.md file looks something like that:

# License

This project uses portion of code from ["other" mod](https://github.com/author/mod) 
[licensed](https://github.com/author/mod/blob/master/licence.md) under GPL.


    The MIT License (MIT)

    Copyright (c) 2016 Me

    Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy 
    of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal 
    in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights 
    to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell 
    copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished 
    to do so, subject to the following conditions:

    The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in 
    all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

    THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR 
    IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, 
    FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL 
    THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER 
    LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, 
    ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER 
    DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

The question isn't about "how I license the MIT licensed code with code under GPLv3?", rather it's "how can I apply limitation on this kind of combination of licenses?"

The question

I use MIT license for now, but for future releases I want to change the license that will apply some limitation on the source code, regarding distribution of my mod.

I want to limit following:

  • Including my mod in the mod packs without my permission or link to the website (where I distribute my mod)
  • Distributing my mod on mod catalog websites without my permission

Should I switch to another license (which one then?), or add additional lines to the original MIT license (and how can I do it)?

Let me know if I don't understand something about licensing and, thank you for your attention! :)

2 Answers 2

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This particular license I've found seems fairly comprehensive, you can always add a couple of clauses if you feel it doesn't cover all of your points. It was received from here

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

  1. USED TERMS

    MOD - modification, plugin, a piece of software that interfaces with >the Minecraft client to extend, add, change or remove original capabilities.

    MOJANG - Mojang AB

    OWNER - , Original author(s) of the MOD. Under the copyright terms accepted when purchasing Minecraft (http://www.minecraft.net/copyright.jsp) the OWNER has full rights over their MOD despite use of MOJANG code.

    USER - End user of the mod, person installing the mod.

    1. LIABILITY THIS MOD IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITH NO WARRANTIES, IMPLIED OR OTHERWISE. THE OWNER OF THIS MOD TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGES INCURRED FROM THE USE OF THIS MOD. THIS MOD ALTERS FUNDAMENTAL PARTS OF THE MINECRAFT GAME, PARTS OF MINECRAFT MAY NOT WORK WITH THIS MOD INSTALLED. ALL DAMAGES CAUSED FROM THE USE OR MISUSE OF THIS MOD FALL ON THE USER.

    2. USE Use of this MOD to be installed, manually or automatically, is given to the USER without restriction.

    3. REDISTRIBUTION This MOD may only be distributed where uploaded, mirrored, or otherwise linked to by the OWNER solely. All mirrors of this mod must have advance written permission from the OWNER. ANY attempts to make money off of this MOD (selling, selling modified versions, adfly, sharecash, etc.) are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN, and the OWNER may claim damages or take other action to rectify the situation.

    4. DERIVATIVE WORKS/MODIFICATION This mod is provided freely and may be decompiled and modified for private use, either with a decompiler or a bytecode editor. Public distribution of modified versions of this MOD require advance written permission of the OWNER and may be subject to certain terms

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  • Really should have given a proper answer the first time. Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 14:06
  • Wow, this is seems like a good alternative to MIT license, thanks so much!
    – McHorse
    Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 15:04
  • 3
    @McHorse: Actually, this license is not compatible with the GPL (in particular clauses 3 and 4), which means that you can't release a mod that contains GPL code under this license. Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 19:16
  • 2
    @Himself12794: Licenses are legal documents. It is never a good idea for a non-lawyer to make changes to them. Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 19:18
  • 2
    @Himself12794: "Add a few clauses" also counts as a modification here. Commented Jul 29, 2016 at 19:23
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I want to limit following:

  • Including my mod in the mod packs without my permission or link to the website (where I distribute my mod)
  • Distributing my mod on mod catalog websites without my permission

The limitations you want to apply are incompatible with the freedoms that the GPL license aims to give.

The GPL license is written in such a way that its freedoms must also apply to projects that (indirectly) make use of GPL-licensed code, even if that project does not use the GPL license itself.
This means that you can not apply the restrictions you want and still use the GPL-licensed code.

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