[License-discuss] documentation on un-enforceability of ethical licenses? (was Re: License Review Request - Anu Initiative

[Stefano Maffulli]

On Tue, Feb 6, 2024 at 4:18 PM Daniel Mihai <daniel at anuinitiative.org>
wrote:

> We are happy to remove the restriction of use for positive ecological
> conservation and sustainability, yet we are not happy to allow usage of the
> product for means that significantly harms the environment - as this would
> go against our companies values/mission/vision.
>

I and many people I'm sure are sympathetic with your intentions. But there
is one fundamental problem with your approach: It will never work. You can
write anything you want in your license but that doesn't mean that you will
be able to enforce what you wrote.

And I'm not aware of any way to restrict the field of use of software while
respecting the Open Source Definition.

Question for the wider group: Can you point me to a document (legal or
otherwise) that argues the unenforceability of ethical clauses, like these
ones?

thanks
stef
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