Re: Dual license the colours of the Modus themes?

[Po Lu]

Protesilaos Stavrou <info@protesilaos.com> writes:

> The modus-themes (modus-operandi, modus-vivendi) are distributed under
> the terms of the GNU GPLv3 and are part of Emacs.  I was wondering
> whether their colours could be licensed under different terms, such as
> by putting them in the public domain (with Creative Commons).
>
> I am reading the GNU commentary on licenses[1] and understand that my
> choice will have to be compatible with the GPL.  What I am not sure
> about are the following:
>
> * Is it possible to keep the modus-themes under the GPL but also
>   dedicate its colours to the public domain?
>
> * Does the inclusion of the modus-themes in Emacs impose any constraints
>   on the possibility of such a dual license arrangement?
>
> If there is any precedent or resources I could refer to, please let me
> know.
>
> I intend to do what is good for Emacs and, by extension, GNU: if a dual
> license for the colours of the modus-themes can cause problems for
> Emacs, then I will simply not do it.
>
> As for why I am asking this: there are cases where someone wants to
> reuse the colours of the modus-themes---just the colours---for stylistic
> purposes and there is uncertainty whether they are allowed to do so
> under the terms of the GPL.
>
> All the best,
> Protesilaos (or simply "Prot")
>
> [1] <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html>

Disclaimer, IANAL.

I think if you are the only person to have devised colors for
modus-themes, then you can do whatever you want with them.

But if someone else has, you need his consent to re-license (or dual
license) the list of colors that he devised, etc.