[License-discuss] Proposal of new new open-source license for graphics (TERO-GL-1.0)

[Josh Berkus]

On 11/5/25 4:16 AM, Morten Fruelund wrote:
 > It is correct that the proposed license, like Clear BSD, for example, 
explicitly does not grant a patent license, whereas many other OSI 
approved open-source licenses remain silent on the issue. Further, some 
OSI-approved licenses contain similar, but of course not identical, 
restrictions on or exclusions from the licenses to various types of IP, 
e.g., RPL-1.5, which states the following in Clause 5.0:

ClearBSD is not an OSI-approved license.

And I knew you were going to mention RPL-1.5.  That license already came 
up in an OSI committee review of old licenses which might not meet our 
current standards for OSD compliance (TBD).  That license was submitted 
at a time when OSI's understanding of the interaction between patent and 
copyright for open source was less mature than it is today (SCO Unix vs. 
Linux was an education for the whole industry).

OSI has been around for almost the whole of open source, and our 
understanding of what exact clauses preserve software freedom, and which 
ones do not, has evolved in that time.  Indeed, if it had not, we would 
have failed in our mission.  This was the reason for adding additional 
information to the license submission process, such as these two advisories:

 From https://opensource.org/licenses/review-process

"The license does not have terms that structurally put the licensor in a 
more favored position than any licensee."

 From 
https://opensource.org/licenses/common-reasons-for-rejection-of-licenses

"An express statement that no patent license is granted. The failure to 
grant a patent license means the license fails to meet OSD 6, 7 and 8. A 
license that makes no statement at all about patents may be acceptable, 
depending on whether the way the license grant is expressed can be read 
as an implied grant, e.g., the 3-Clause BSD License that permits “use” 
of the software."

-- 
-- Josh Berkus
OSI Board Member
-- 
-- Josh Berkus
OSI Board Member