For Approval: Microsoft Permissive License

Sat Aug 11 05:56:19 UTC 2007

Hi Ross - Thank you for the suggestion.  I'll take the opportunity of this e-mail to also thank others who have had advice on the names of the licenses.  There seems to be a pretty good discussion going on right now regarding the license names and we do wish to have them be as clear and communicative as possible.  I can't say where we'll come down on this in the end, but it's great to get this feedback, much of which we have not had the opportunity to hear before.

In an effort to also address those on a related thread who were concerned about acronym overload of MPL with the Mozilla Public License,  I'll mention that we refer to the Microsoft Permissive Licences as the MS-PL.

Jon
________________________________
From: goobox at gmail.com [goobox at gmail.com] On Behalf Of Ross Mayfield [ross.mayfield at socialtext.com]
Sent: Friday, August 10, 2007 5:58 PM
To: Jon Rosenberg (PBM)
Cc: license-discuss at opensource.org
Subject: Re: For Approval: Microsoft Permissive License

Hi Jon --

Great that Microsoft has taken the step to submit licenses to OSI.  One question.  Vanity licenses are a known and understood problem.  Would you consider submitting these licenses with more generic names?

When we did this with CPAL it met a favorable response from the community.

Ross

On 8/10/07, Jon Rosenberg (PBM) < jonr at microsoft.com<mailto:jonr at microsoft.com>> wrote:

Microsoft is pleased to submit the Microsoft Permissive License to the OSI for consideration as an OSI approved license.  Microsoft believes that this license provides unique value to the open source community by delivering simplicity, brevity, and permissive terms combined with intellectual property protection.

The three sections below provide the information required for the discussion portion of the approval process.  We look forward to working with the OSI on this submission process and discussing this submission with the open source community.

Jon Rosenberg

Director, Source Program

Microsoft Corporation

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Section  I:  Which OSI licenses are similar and why won't one of those do instead?

Although one can assess similarity of license terms in numerous ways, the MS-PL has similarities to terms in both the New BSD license and Apache 2.0 license.  However, the new BSD license does not contain an explicit patent grant and only implicitly refers to trademark issues.  In addition, we sought to create a license that is simple, short, and easy-to-understand.

Section II: Compatibilities and incompatibilities with other OSI licenses:  Source code distribution breaks down into two areas: Relicensing of MS-PL code and redistribution of MS-PL code with other code that is licensed under a different license.

•         Can MS-PL code be redistributed under a different license?:

No.  The license states that "If you distribute any portion of the software in source code form, you may do so only under this license…"  This restriction is similar to the restriction in the Mozilla Public License that states "You may not offer or impose any terms on any Source Code version that alters or restricts the applicable version of this License or the recipients' rights hereunder."  The MS-PL license explicitly prohibits relicensing of the original licensed code under a different license, regardless of whether the original code is redistributed in whole, in part or as part of a different piece of software.

•         Can MS-PL code be redistributed in combination with other code that is licensed under a different license?

As long as the original MS-PL licensed code is redistributed under the MS-PL license, then the MS-PL  places no restrictions on combining MS-PL code with other code that is licensed under another license.  Licenses that prohibit the distribution of code under any terms other than the terms of that license will not be compatible with the MS-PL.

Section III: The License: A copy of the license is included below and also provided as a .txt file attachment.

Microsoft Permissive License (Ms-PL)

This license governs use of the accompanying software. If you use the software, you accept this

license. If you do not accept the license, do not use the software.

1. Definitions

The terms "reproduce," "reproduction," "derivative works," and "distribution" have the same meaning here

as under U.S. copyright law.

A "contribution" is the original software, or any additions or changes to the software.

A "contributor" is any person that distributes its contribution under this license.

 "Licensed patents" are a contributor's patent claims that read directly on its contribution.

2. Grant of Rights

(A) Copyright Grant- Subject to the terms of this license, including the license conditions and limitations in

section 3, each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free copyright license to

reproduce its contribution, prepare derivative works of its contribution, and distribute its contribution or any

derivative works that you create.

(B) Patent Grant- Subject to the terms of this license, including the license conditions and limitations in

section 3, each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license under its licensed

patents to make, have made, use, sell, offer for sale, import, and/or otherwise dispose of its contribution in

the software or derivative works of the contribution in the software.

3. Conditions and Limitations

 (A) No Trademark License- This license does not grant you rights to use any contributors' name, logo, or

trademarks.

(B) If you bring a patent claim against any contributor over patents that you claim are infringed by the

software, your patent license from such contributor to the software ends automatically.

(C) If you distribute any portion of the software, you must retain all copyright, patent, trademark, and

attribution notices that are present in the software.

(D) If you distribute any portion of the software in source code form, you may do so only under this license

by including a complete copy of this license with your distribution. If you distribute any portion of the

software in compiled or object code form, you may only do so under a license that complies with this

license.

(E) The software is licensed "as-is." You bear the risk of using it. The contributors give no express

warranties, guarantees or conditions. You may have additional consumer rights under your local laws which

this license cannot change. To the extent permitted under your local laws, the contributors exclude the

implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement.

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