[License-discuss] Query on "delayed open source" licensing

[Christopher Sean Morrison]

> On Oct 25, 2023, at 9:43 PM, Seth David Schoen <schoen at loyalty.org> wrote:
> 
> Of course, license instruments that implement this strategy are not
> themselves open source licenses.  But we thought it was likely that
> subscribers of this list would be familiar with examples of this
> practice and might be able to suggest some that we haven't identified
> yet.

Not an example of a license per-se but a tangentially related practice in the U.S. Federal Government space is how Small Business Innovative Research (“SBIRs”) contracts/grants are defined in federal regulation see DFARS 227.7104 and DFARS 252.227-7018 clauses.

Basically, a company agreeing to receive a SBIR is given 5 years to essentially do what they want with the work and data they develop, try to market it, built the small business etc.  After the end of that 5-year period, Government’s rights change from Gov’t purpose rights (GPR — where they can only use the code in-house) to unlimited rights.

Consequently that means the SBIR awardee can open-source the work during the 5 year prior, and the Gov’t can after 5 years.  Note in practice the clock only stops ticking after the last related contract mod, even if the wprl o  SBI

Of course, not a given as contracts can override defaults to specify something else, or new regulation might apply like the new 2022 rule that applies retroactively to 2019 making some SBIRs (phase 3 projects?) have a 20 year data rights period instead of 5.

Cheers!
Sean