Cubit Business management software - licensing

[andre]

Backround :

Cubit started development in 2001 (will be five years old 
in a few months) It is a stable, mature, application and imho
will be a win for the world (as it is also semi OS platform 
independant and there are thousands of php programmers)
Cubuit has also been developed by multiple PHP coders
over the past years in South Africa.

It is a PHP (plaintext) web browser based application
with all it's modules it is around 1 500 000 lines of code.
(excl whitespace)
It is running at thousands of sites in south africa and has
many very happy and satisfied clients (users)

I have studied the mozilla public license and various
others. Have also read the release about license proliferation.

We do want to release our code as open source and not
the current hybrid license as this causes great confusion
in our country. I have some serious concerns however and will 
not at this point be able to use another license? 
(can someone direct me to v3 of the gpl ? It has been
suggested by an expert that this license may work?)

We have no software patent legislation in South Africa, and
are indeed many years away from such attempted
legislation. I have been programming for the past 
26 years and could show prior art and defend myself
quite nicely in my own country. 

We cannot accept California or Europe or another
countries legal jurisdiction. Also I do not want anyone to 
compile my code, php is executed as source code.

I have the following license (which imho complies with the definition)
would like to unfortunately add to the proliferation of licenses
(is this a bad thing?) and would really appreciate someone else's input, 
assistance, flames, critique etc. thanks in advance for reading the
license at the end of this email.

Kindest Regards


Andre Coetzee


I would like comments before submitting the following license :
 
Open Cubit License 3.0
Definitions:
1.“License” means the open Cubit license, this license
2.“Developer” means anyone contributing to Cubit in any way
3.“Cubit” means the entire distribution, including all files, databases,
 source code, graphics, the name “Cubit”, all systems, work flows, methods of 
operation and processes and any or all intellectual property implied or 
included in the Cubit Accounting and Business management software suite 
distributed or released in any fashion through any medium whatsoever.
4.“Distribution” means any distribution of Cubit, making available thereof 
electronic or otherwise
5.“Cubit Software Originator” means Cubit Accounting Software (Pty) Ltd. Or 
it's in writing appointed agents
6.“Modification” or “Modify” means any customisation, addition, inclusion of 
files, deletion or by omission, modification of the contents of any Cubit 
file or graphic or the addition to any file in any way shape or form to Cubit
7.“You” means an individual or legal entity to which this license or future 
versions of this license applies
8.References to the singular also means the plural and specific gender 
references automatically includes the  other gender

License Core:
The Cubit Software Originator grants you a royalty free, non-exclusive 
license, subject to third party intellectual property claims, to: 
Use, reproduce, modify and distribute Cubit freely.

Each developer grants you, subject to third party intellectual property 
claims, a non-exclusive license to:
Use, reproduce, modify and distribute the modifications created by the 
developer.

Any modifications to Cubit is governed by the terms of this license. Cubit is 
executed as source code and you may never compile, obscure or cause to 
obscure Cubit. You may not move this license or the top left Cubit graphic 
and link or the name Cubit from any Cubit file.

General distribution:
Any modification must be made available under the terms of this license to 
anyone that requests it and if such modification is not made freely available 
on the www.cubit.co.za website transparently and to the world then you have 
to make such modification available at your own financial cost for at least 
48 months after it became available or was created whichever happened last. 
You have to inform the world on the www.cubit.co.za website that you have 
made such modification and document any modification or make such 
documentation available on request.
Any application programming interface developed for Cubit must be licensed 
under this license or the latest version of the GPL as available from 
www.opensource.org 

Developer declarations:
All developers declare that all modifications to Cubit are the developer's own 
original creation or that the developer has sufficient rights to grant the 
rights required in this license.

Disclaimer of Warranty:
Cubit is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind, either expressed or 
implied, including without limitation that Cubit is free of defects, 
merchantable, fit for a particular purpose or non-infringing. The entire risk 
as to quality and performance of Cubit is with you. Should Cubit prove 
defective in any respect, you and nobody else, assume the cost of any 
necessary servicing, repair or correction. No use of Cubit is authorised 
except under this license.

Litigation:
If you initiate litigation with regard to Cubit against anyone then all rights 
granted you in terms of this license shall terminate automatically unless you 
agree to pay the software originator or developer a mutually agreeable 
royalty for your past and future use of Cubit or withdraw your litigation 
claim. 


Limitation of Liability:
Under no circumstances and under no legal theory whatsoever shall you, the 
software originator any developer or anyone else be liable to you or anyone 
else for any indirect, special, incidental, consequential or any other 
damages of any kind. Even if  you, the software originator any developer or 
anyone else was informed of the possibility of such damage or losses. In 
areas where applicable law prohibits clauses such as these you may not use 
Cubit under this license.

Various:
This license shall be governed by South African law and any litigation 
relating to this license shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the Randburg 
magistrates court and thereafter any Supreme Court division of South Africa.

Multiple licensing:
Only the software originator may designate portions of Cubit as multiple 
licensed. Multiple licensed means that the software originator permits you to 
utilise portions or all of Cubit under your choice of this license or the 
alternative licenses, if any, specified by the software originator.

If you have read this far, thank you very much and I would really appreciate
any feedback whatsoever

Have a great day !

;)

andre