For Approval: MindTree Public License

[Michael Bernstein]

On Thu, 2005-10-13 at 16:05 -0700, Smith, McCoy wrote: 
> Is there any OSI-approved license with mandatory grant-back provisions
> of the scope set forth in paragraphs 3 & 4?  Is it appropriate under
> prevailing law and the OSD to demand a grant back is to IP beyond
> copyright, when the grant itself is limited to copyright only? 

I'll point out again that the MTPL does not demand a grant, but an
outright assignment of all IP.

That means the author of a distributed modification loses all copyright
to their modification, any necessary patents, etc. MindTree gets it all
(ignoring for the moment that assignments must usually be executed
explicitly).

In return, MindTree only grants a license to use and distribute the
modification back to the modifying author, but they do not grant any
patent licenses back.

Can anyone else not see the problems with this?

- Michael Bernstein