[License-discuss] Working Class License

[Marc Jones]

>> Not only that, but the Working Class License itself is a blatant violation of the FSF's copyright, unless the author has a private license from the FSF to create such a thing (which I do not believe, as it fails to acknowledge the FSF in any way). As the GPL says right at the top:  "Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed."
>>
>
> This came up with the SSPL. From the FSF:
>
> "You can legally use the GPL terms (possibly modified) in another license provided that you call your license by another name and do not include the GPL preamble, and provided you modify the instructions-for-use at the end enough to make it clearly different in wording and not mention GNU (though the actual procedure you describe may be similar)."
>
> While this license appears to be a non-free parody international socialism, it doesn't violate the FSF's copyright.
>

The FSF's publicly stated position in its Licensing FAQ on
modifications of the GPL is:

"""
*Can I modify the GPL and make a modified license? (#ModifyGPL [1])*

It is possible to make modified versions of the GPL, but it tends to
have practical consequences.

You can legally use the GPL terms (possibly modified) in another
license provided that you call your license by another name and do not
include the GPL preamble, and provided you modify the
instructions-for-use at the end enough to make it clearly different in
wording and not mention GNU (though the actual procedure you describe
may be similar).

If you want to use our preamble in a modified license, please write to
<licensing at gnu.org> for permission. For this purpose we would want to
check the actual license requirements to see if we approve of them.

Although we will not raise legal objections to your making a modified
license in this way, we hope you will think twice and not do it. Such
a modified license is almost certainly incompatible with the GNU GPL,
and that incompatibility blocks useful combinations of modules. The
mere proliferation of different free software licenses is a burden in
and of itself.

Rather than modifying the GPL, please use the exception mechanism
offered by GPL version 3.
"""

The working class license includes at least portions of the FSF
preamble and the instructions for use at the end.

[1] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#ModifyGPL



-- 
Marc Jones, esq.
marc at joneslaw.io
860-916-6720

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