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<p>The OSI, under the auspices of the License Committee, will be
evaluating whether the current list of licenses is as
comprehensive as it should be. It may be that a combination of
factors, including a) how licenses are selected for review, b) the
desire to ensure that approved licenses meet a minimum standard of
quality, and c) a desire to discourage license proliferation, may
have prevented some suitable licenses from obtaining OSI approval.
This creates ambiguity about whether some licenses are or are not
open source licenses.<br>
<br>
The mission of the License List Working Group is to find ways to
ensure that the OSI’s license list is appropriately comprehensive
while also continuing to encourage the use of a smaller set of
well-known, well-understood licenses. The work is likely to
include:<br>
</p>
<ul>
<li>Reevaluating the criteria for approving licenses, potentially
setting different standards for licenses in use versus new
licenses</li>
<li>Reevaluating the process for considering licenses for
approval, including whether the OSI should itself nominate
licenses for approval</li>
<li>Reevaluating the current categories for licenses, including
how they are used and their usefulness</li>
<li>Evaluating whether there should be a process for decertifying
licenses, and what the process and standards would be for the
process</li>
</ul>
<p>This Working Group will not be investigating or evaluating
whether the Open Source Definition should be revised. That project
is likely to require a different assortment of participants than
this proposed Working Group, so a review of the OSD is more
appropriately undertaken separately.<br>
<br>
The Working Group will solicit input from the community, both
individual and corporate, in fulfilling its task.<br>
<br>
If you are interested in participating in the Working Group,
please contact License Committee chair Pamela Chestek at
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pamela.chestek@opensource.org">pamela.chestek@opensource.org</a>. Describe why you are interested in
participating and a brief summary of your background and
qualifications for the role. The intent is to have a fairly small
working group that can work efficiently, with members who are
willing to contribute significant time to the project. There is
also a desire for representation from different interests,
including individual, for-profit and nonprofit entities, different
legal jurisdictions, and lawyers and non-lawyers.<br>
</p>
<p>Announcement also at:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://wiki.opensource.org/bin/Working+Groups+%26+Incubator+Projects/License+List+Working+Group/">https://wiki.opensource.org/bin/Working+Groups+%26+Incubator+Projects/License+List+Working+Group/</a></p>
<p>Pam</p>
Pamela Chestek<br>
License Committee Chair<br>
Open Source Initiative<br>
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