[License-discuss] For Discussion: Cryptographic Autonomy License (CAL) Beta 2

[Richard Fontana]

On Thu, Aug 8, 2019 at 5:19 PM VanL <van.lindberg at gmail.com> wrote:

> 5. Scope of copyleft.
>
>
> - Beta 2 has been reworked to focus on the transfer of "licenseable" parts of the Work. This limits the application to what can be properly reached by a license, regardless of what the scope of copyleft turns out to be. See Section 2.1 of CAL Beta 2:
>
>
> > 2.1 Application
>
> > The terms of this License apply to the Work as you receive it from Licensor,
>
> > as well as to any modifications, elaborations, or implementations created by
>
> > You that contain any licenseable portion of the Work (a “Modified Work”).
>
> > Unless specified, any reference to the Work also applies to a Modified Work.

If I understand correctly, this has the effect of replacing the
language in the earlier version that would have imposed copyleft
obligations on APIs by choosing not to address the issue head on
(contrary to what I think you recommended that license drafters ought
to do in an earlier thread).

However, leaving aside the notion of API copyrightability, isn't this
problematically broad? How do you reconcile it with OSD 9 ("The
license must not place restrictions on other software that is
distributed along with the licensed software.")?

Richard