The excuse that poets and writers give for being wrong in their work, either factually or grammatically: because (supposedly) whatever they've said sounds more poetic than correcting it would.

The poetic license
Version 1.1 17th November 2001

Preamble.

Most software licences are created under the pretense that such an idea is valid. The idea that by licensing, not selling, software, you can prevent someone who hasn't agreed to the license from doing something prevented by the license. But by simply not agreeing to such terms in a license, it is possible to use any software in any way you want. This license is therefore an invalidation of its own existence.

Grant of license.

This license is granted to anyone who so desires, but it is not needed for the use of the software covered by it. It is just here in the absence of anything else, because people think that such a thing is necessary. Agreeing to, disagreeing with, or burning this license is irrelevant. You can still do what you want.

Copying.

The software covered by this license makes no claims about copyright, copyleft or even copy centre (where you take it down to the copy centre and copy it). Make as many copies as you want, for whatever purpose, even if it is to sacrifice those copies in a great floppy pyre. You may even claim copyright, ownership of trademark, originality or patent. You may even sue the real originator for a breach of your claimed copyright. However, this license can't guarantee that this will be in any way successful.

Regarding the GNU general public license (GPL).

Most software licenses are intended to take away freedom. The GPL is intended to take away your freedom to take away freedom. The poetic license grants you the freedom to enforce whatever licensing you want, even one that is more resrictive, less restrictive, or even completely absurd.

Relicensing.

As noted above, you may resell, redistribute, or relicense the software covered by this license in any way you want. You may incorporate the software in derivative works, resell for profit, or even throw it in the bit-bucket.

Disclaimer.

This software is supplied without warranty of any kind, even the assurance that the entity you received it from had anything to do with its creation.

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