[License-review] Request for Legacy Approval of PHP License 3.01

[McCoy Smith]

>>From: McCoy Smith <mccoy at lexpan.law> 
>>Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2020 10:17 AM
>>To: 'License submissions for OSI review' <license-review at lists.opensource.org>
>>Subject: RE: [License-review] Request for Legacy Approval of PHP License 3.01

 

>>Yes, this is indeed true.  But note the restriction is not limited to their mark, common law or otherwise.  It attempts to preclude a much broader scope of designation of origin than that, and put limits on how those designations may be articulated.  And it’s a limitation on the scope of the copyright grant, meaning they could conceivably make a claim for copyright infringement for using a naming convention to which they may not be entitled to enforce under trademark law.  I’m specifically referring to the part of the license restriction that says “nor may "PHP" appear in their name, without prior written permission from group at php.net <mailto:group at php.net> .” I’m wondering if the companies that spun off from the Hewlett-Packard Company (“HP”) might have problems with the breadth of this restriction.

 

Perhaps a more salient example, which came to mind upon reflection on the early part of my career, was “PCI Hot Plug,” circa 1997: http://drydkim.com/MyDocuments/PCI%20Spec/specifications/pcihp1_1.pdf 

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