[License-review] [Board] Re: Request for Legacy Approval for the ICU License (as used by ICU 1.8.1 to ICU 57.1)

Fri Oct 20 22:54:49 UTC 2023

And now that the license has been approved, it has its own Approved License
page: https://opensource.org/license/icu-license/, too.

On Fri, Oct 20, 2023 at 11:34 AM Pamela Chestek <
pamela.chestek at opensource.org> wrote:

> All,
>
> I am pleased to report that at today's Board meeting the ICU License was
> approved as an OSI Approved License.
>
> Pam
>
> Pamela Chestek
> Chair, License Committee
> Open Source Initiative
>
> On 10/18/2023 5:19 PM, Pamela Chestek wrote:
> > All,
> >
> > Attached is the License Committee's recommendation to the Board on the
> > approval of the ICU license. I expect that we will be voting on this
> > license at the next Board meeting.
> >
> > Pamela S. Chestek
> > Chair, License Committee
> > Open Source Initiative
> >
> >
> > On 8/16/2023 4:25 AM, Jeff Johnson wrote:
> >> Greetings,
> >>
> >> I'm requesting that the ICU License be considered for Legacy approval
> >> as an OSI-approved license.
> >>
> >> Rationale:
> >>
> >> The ICU License is used by the extremely popular decNumber library
> >> (https://speleotrove.com/decimal/), which is dual-licensed (with the
> >> other option being GPL -
> >> https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/tree/master/libdecnumber). The
> >> DPS8M simulator program is using the ICU License.  There are other
> >> major programs that redistribute ICU-licensed code such as Bloomberg
> >> COMDB2, IBM NetREXX, etc.
> >>
> >> Currently, Debian and Red Hat allow this license. Red Hat via Fedora
> >> considers it a variant of the MIT License.  See
> >> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:MIT#Modern_style_(ICU_Variant).
>
> >> Code under this license is distributed with Android
> >> (
> https://chromium.googlesource.com/chromium/deps/icu/+/refs/heads/main/LICENSE
> ).
> >>
> >> ICU-licensed code is included in more than 2,500 projects on GitHub -
> >> see
> >>
> https://github.com/search?q=%22COPYRIGHT+AND+PERMISSION+NOTICE%22+%22ICU+License%22&type=code
> .
> >>
> >> The chances of decNumber being re-licensed by IBM is essentially zero
> >> (or I simply don't know who to talk to), which means that all code
> >> that derives from the ICU-licensed decNumber is not under an OSI
> >> approved license.  GitLab, for example, is not extending their free
> >> "Ultimate for Open Source Developers" for DPS8M and other projects
> >> due to the use of "non-OSI licensed" (ICU-licensed code) - they (and
> >> many others) will only allow explicitly listed OSI-approved licenses.
> >>
> >> The use of ICU Licensed code has come up as well in other projects,
> >> where there was confusion as to the status of the ICU-licensed code,
> >> and, wanting an OSI-approved license, decNumber code was replaced
> >> with other libraries, and finally reverted, a waste of time for all
> >> involved.
> >>
> >> Distinguish:
> >>
> >> The ICU License is very functionally similar to the MIT License.  Red
> >> Hat / Fedora considers the ICU license to be a variant of the MIT
> >> license.  It differs in four areas:
> >>
> >> 1) The grant of rights is explicit between Software and Documentation
> >> rather than both as a "work" (... provided that the above copyright
> >> notice(s) and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
> >> Software and that both the above copyright notice(s) and this
> >> permission notice appear in supporting documentation.)
> >>
> >> 2) It does not explicitly list "sublicense" as a right granted.
> >>
> >> 3) It disclaims all warranties, but the list of of these (including
> >> but not limited to) is slightly different (explicitly excluding only
> >> noninfringement of third party rights, etc).
> >>
> >> 4) It includes a non-publicity clause: "Except as contained in this
> >> notice, the name of a copyright holder shall not be used in
> >> advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings
> >> in this Software without prior written authorization of the copyright
> >> holder."
> >>
> >> Legal review:
> >>
> >> I am not aware of any published legal review of the specific text of
> >> this license.
> >>
> >> Full Text:
> >>
> >> Full text of the ICU License, with optional text bracketed:
> >>
> >> ```
> >> COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION NOTICE
> >>
> >> Copyright (c) yyyy-yyyy copyright holder
> >>
> >> [All Rights Reserved.]
> >>
> >> Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining
> >> a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the
> >> "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including
> >> without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
> >> distribute, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons
> >> to whom the Software is furnished to do so, provided that the above
> >> copyright notice(s) and this permission notice appear in all copies
> >> of the Software and that both the above copyright notice(s) and this
> >> permission notice appear in supporting documentation.
> >>
> >> THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
> >> EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF
> >> MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT
> >> OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR
> >> HOLDERS INCLUDED IN THIS NOTICE BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, OR ANY
> >> SPECIAL INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
> >> RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF
> >> CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN
> >> CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
> >>
> >> Except as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder
> >> shall not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale,
> >> use or other dealings in this Software without prior written
> >> authorization of the copyright holder.
> >> ```
> >>
> >> Recommended proliferation category:
> >>
> >> I would consider this license to be a Legacy license - "Licenses that
> >> are redundant with more popular licenses" and not to be recommended
> >> for new projects.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Jeffrey H. Johnson
> >> trnsz at pobox.com
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and not
> >> necessarily those of the Open Source Initiative. Communication from
> >> the Open Source Initiative will be sent from an opensource.org email
> >> address.
> >>
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> >> License-review at lists.opensource.org
> >>
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>
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> Open Source Initiative - Board of Directors
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