[License-review] For Approval: License Zero Reciprocal Public License

[Kyle Mitchell]

Florian,

Thanks for your note.  I'm especially grateful for feedback
from folks outside the US!

On 2017-10-23 20:10, Florian Weimer wrote:
> * Kyle Mitchell:
> Usually, mere “use” of a software (in the sense of running the code)
> cannot be open source or not.  That distinction only arises if
> redistribution happens.

You're right.  Software itself is Open Source, not
particular uses of it.

In L0-R, "Open Source" points to the noun phrases "any
modification" in condition 3 and "other software" in
condition 4.

> Clause 4 seems to restrict the use (running) of the software to
> open-source development.  This is pretty close to a restriction on
> fields of endeavor.  Even the most restrictive open source licenses
> (like a common interpretation of the Sleeypcat license, or the QPL)
> permit arbitrary use for your own internal purpose.  From a practical
> point of view, this is very important because it allows you to avoid
> complex license management for purely internal applications.

OSD criterion 6 has come up a few times.  Recapping my part
in those discussions:

If development of proprietary software is a "field of
endeavor" against which Open Source licenses cannot
discriminate, then distribution-triggered copyleft
conditions like GPL's would fail the criterion, too.  That's
clearly not the case.  So "field of endeavor" must mean
something else.

I read it to cover ends, like education or the examples
given in OSD, rather than means, like how to license
software used for those ends.  Something like the difference
between "purpose" and "methodology".

> There is also the practical concern: In some jurisdictions, once you
> have legally obtained a copy, you can run the program without
> restriction, without consent from the copyright holder, even if doing
> so technically creates additional (temporary) copies.

Correct.  Some jurisdictions' copyright laws overlook
"transient copies" created incidentally to computer
execution.

I read "use" and "redistribution" in BSD-2-Clause to cover
all licensable exclusive rights of copyright owners, adding
up to a full permissive license.  That being the case, "use"
must cover more than just transitive copying for execution.
Copies made to bring a program onto the computer, for
example.

Even in jurisdictions that overlook transient copies, seat-,
instance-, and other metered use limitations are very common
in commercial licenses.  They are also enforceable, so long
as the only way way to obtain a copy "legally" is under
license with the restrictions.

-- 
Kyle Mitchell, attorney // Oakland // (510) 712 - 0933