[License-review] For approval: The Cryptographic Autonomy License (Beta 2)

[Pamela Chestek]

We don't think we can get anything ready in time to review the CAL
license, so unfortunately we shall carry on with email.

Thanks,

Pam

Pamela Chestek
Chair, License Review Committee
Open Source Initiative

On 8/19/2019 7:17 PM, Pamela Chestek wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'd like to pause this discussion for a few days. As everyone knows
> and I think agrees, email is poorly suited for this process. The
> License Committee has been discussing trying out a different tool,
> probably just a simple issue tracker. If y'all could give us a few
> days to figure out if we want to try it out with this discussion, that
> would be very greatly appreciated.
>
> Van, if you would prefer we NOT try a tool other than email, please
> let me know.
>
> Thanks,
> Pam
>
> Pamela Chestek
> Chair, License Review Committee
> Open Source Initiative
>
> On 8/19/2019 5:09 PM, VanL wrote:
>> Hi Josh,
>>
>> Looking again, I didn't really address your question about the "offer
>> an acceptance" language. So here goes:
>>
>> License terms such as these are interpreted as contracts. Contracts
>> require 1) an offer, 2) an acceptance, and 3) consideration.
>>
>> > ### 2.2. Offer and Acceptance
>> > This License is automatically offered to every person and
>> organization.
>>
>> This establishes that the license is being offered as-is to every
>> possible licensee. This is the "offer" part of contract law.
>>
>> But because I don't want to individually sign an agreement with every
>> possible licensor, I need some way for someone who wants to use
>> software under this license to show that they have accepted it.
>> That's the next part:
>>
>> > You show that you accept this License and agree to its conditions
>> by taking any action with the Work that, absent this License, would
>> infringe any intellectual property right held by Licensor.
>>
>> This means that if you do something that, absent the license, you
>> would not have the right to do, we will both agree to interpret that
>> as you "accepting" the license, including all of its terms.
>>
>> This also establishes the "consideration" - you get software, I get
>> your compliance with the terms.
>>
>> >### 2.3. Compliance and Remedies
>> > Any failure to act according to the terms and conditions of this
>> License places Your use of the Work outside the scope of the License
>> and infringes the intellectual property rights of the Licensor. In
>> the event of infringement, the terms and conditions of this License
>> may be enforced by Licensor under the intellectual property laws of
>> any jurisdiction to which You are subject.
>>
>> This sentence ties the enforceability of the license back to
>> intellectual property law. IP law has stronger remedies than contract
>> law, so we want to be able to use IP as a tool when enforcing the
>> CAL. But note that only the IP owner can sue under the IP laws. What
>> about everyone else? What about a Recipient - a user - who wants a
>> copy of the source and their data?
>>
>> > You also agree that either the Licensor or a Recipient (as an
>> intended third-party beneficiary) may enforce the terms and
>> conditions of this License against You via specific performance.
>>
>> This calls out to a doctrine in contract law that recognizes that
>> sometimes third parties, not named in a contract, also may have a
>> stake in the contract being enforced. These are "third party
>> beneficiaries." A third party beneficiary doesn't have all the rights
>> that the IP holder does. But they can sue, using this clause, for
>> "specific performance" - a legal term that means "you must comply
>> with the license terms".
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Van
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> License-review mailing list
>> License-review at lists.opensource.org
>> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org
>

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