[License-discuss] System 76's BeanBooks Public License v1.0

Luis Villa luis at lu.is
Wed Sep 18 02:50:29 UTC 2013


I just wanted to raise this thread again; I'm interested in
discussion/comment from others but have had only the barest time to
skim.

Sec. 3.3 strikes me as odd; essentially a very strong CLA baked into
the license. Not non-free/open, per se, at least at first glance -
just... odd?

Sec. 4.3 strikes me as actually conceptually somewhat interesting,
inasmuch as many commercial lawyers have argued that this type of
clause is often implicit in software that contains a protect trademark
embedded in the software and not removed by a downstream licensee.
This, obviously, makes it very explicit. I'd suggest that it violates
the spirit of the OSD, but not necessarily the letter (again, with
only very brief thought to the matter - I may be forgetting something
obvious in the OSD).

Luis

On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 8:11 AM, Bradley M. Kuhn <bkuhn at ebb.org> wrote:
> A colleague of mine asked for my comment on the following license:
> https://beansbooks.com/home/opensource (included in full text below for
> the archives).  It's reminiscent of the Yahoo! Public License and Zimbra
> Public License.
>
> I notice that it seems that the Zimbra Public License and Yahoo! are
> listed as Free Software licenses by the FSF but not as Open Source by
> OSI.
>
> Does someone from OSI want talk to System 76 about this and why this is
> a "bad idea" to make their own license?  System 76 is generally a pretty
> friendly company to Open Source and Free Software.
> ######################################################################
> URL: https://beansbooks.com/home/opensource
> BeansBooks Public License v1.0
>
>     This BeansBooks Public License (this "Agreement") is a legal
>     agreement that describes the terms under which System76, Inc., a
>     Colorado corporation ("System76") will provide software to you via
>     download or otherwise ("Software"). By using the Software, you, an
>     individual or an entity ("You") agree to the terms of this
>     Agreement. In consideration of the mutual promises and upon the
>     terms and conditions set forth below, the parties agree as follows:
>
>     1. Grant of Copyright License
>         1.1 - Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement,
>         System76 hereby grants to You, under any and all of its
>         copyright interest in and to the Software, a royalty-free,
>         non-exclusive, non-transferable license to copy, modify,
>         compile, execute, and distribute the Software and
>         Modifications. For the purposes of this Agreement, any change
>         to, addition to, or abridgement of the Software made by You is a
>         "Modification;" however, any file You add to the Software that
>         does not contain any part of the Software is not a
>         "Modification."
>
>         1.2 - If You are an individual acting on behalf of a corporation
>         or other entity, Your use of the Software or any Modification is
>         subject to Your having the authority to bind such corporation or
>         entity to this Agreement. Providing copies to persons within
>         such corporation or entity is not considered distribution for
>         purposes of this Agreement.
>
>         1.3 - For the Software or any Modification You distribute in
>         source code format, You must do so only under the terms of this
>         Agreement, and You must include a complete copy of this
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>         1.4 - For the Software or any Modification You distribute in
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>         4.2 - In any copy of the Software or in any Modification you
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>
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>     8. Miscellaneous
>
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>         enforceable to the fullest extent permitted by law. This
>         Agreement will be interpreted and construed in accordance with
>         the laws of the State of Colorado and the United States of
>         America, without regard to conflict of law principles. The
>         U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods
>         shall not apply to this Agreement. All disputes arising out of
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>         whole or in part, whether voluntary or by operation of law,
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> --
>    -- bkuhn
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