[License-review] Submission for review of Mulan Public License，Version 2
Pamela Chestek
pamela.chestek at opensource.org
Mon Jan 20 01:53:28 UTC 2025
Dear Minghui,
Thank you.
I have briefly reviewed the English language version of the license and
the translation does not appear to be professionally done. It is our
policy to have certified translations of licenses in foreign languages.
This license says that "IN THE CASE OF DIVERGENCE BETWEEN THE CHINESE
AND ENGLISH VERSIONS, THE CHINESE VERSION SHALL PREVAIL," so we need to
review an accurate translation of the Chinese version of the license.
The English language version of the license is problematic and I am
hoping that it is a translation issue, not a problem with the license in
its original language. One problem is that it does not grant all the
rights necessary in copyright. Specifically it states the grant is "to
reproduce, use, modify, or Distribute" the software. However, under US
law these are not all the rights of the copyright author, which include
the right to publicly display and the right to publicly perform.* Under
US law this license would be construed as withholding the rights of
display and performance and therefore would not be an open source license.
The patent grant is also quite confusing. It says "where such patent
license is only limited to the patent claims owned or controlled by such
Contributor now or in future which will be necessarily infringed by its
Contribution alone, excluding of any patent claims solely be infringed
by your modification." "Only limited" is odd phrasing in English and
it's not clear how the word "only" might be read. "Excluding of any
patent claims solely be infringed by your modification" is grammatically
incorrect and might be construed as exactly the opposite of what you
meant to say. That is, this phrase could be read to say that the
exclusion modifies the non-grant, not that it is a further clarification
of the scope of the original grant - in other words, the word
"excluding" modifies the non-grant so that it becomes a grant for later
modifications.
Please therefore provide a certified translation of the Chinese language
version of the license so we can learn whether the problems are just a
function of an unfaithful translation or there is a fundamental problem
with this version of the license.
If the problem in the copyright grant is in the Chinese language version
too, please consider withdrawing the license from review so that you can
revise it and resubmit it.
Pam
*Because licenses are now used internationally, a better practice for
open source licenses is to grant a license to all copyright rights
without enumerating them, to ensure that the grant is complete in all
jurisdictions.
Pamela S. Chestek
Chair, License Committee
Open Source Initiative
On 1/14/2025 5:59 AM, Zhou,Minghui wrote:
>
> Dear Pamela and all,
>
> Please see the attahced .txt file for Mulan Public License, Version 2.
>
> (I'm the author, I simply provide the text for your convenience.)
>
>
> Best, Minghui
>
> --
> Minghui Zhou， Professor
> Vice Dean, School of Computer Science
> Peking University, Beijing, China
> https://minghuizhou.github.io/
>
>
>
> -----Original Messages-----
> *From:* "Pamela Chestek" <pamela.chestek at opensource.org>
> *Send time:* Tuesday, 01/14/2025 09:55:32
> *To:* license-review at lists.opensource.org
> *Subject:* [License-review] Submission for review of Mulan Public
> License，Version 2
>
> (Resending, adding direct email address)
>
> Dear Nadia,
>
> As previously mentioned, can you send a copy of the license as a
> .txt file? This is a requirement for submitting a license,
> https://opensource.org/licenses/review-process ("Submit a copy of
> the license as an attachment in simple text format.") I cannot
> copy/paste from the website because of the potential loss of
> fidelity to the original.
>
> We cannot process the submission without a copy of the license as
> an attached document.
>
> Pamela S. Chestek
> Chair, License Committee
> Open Source Initiative
>
> On 11/10/2024 8:11 AM, Pamela Chestek wrote:
>>
>> Please provide a copy of the license as a .txt file attached to
>> an email. The link is currently not resolving for me. This
>> license will not be considered submitted until we have a copy of
>> the license.
>>
>> Pam
>>
>> Pamela S. Chestek
>> Chair, License Committee
>> Open Source Initiative
>>
>> On 10/25/2024 4:54 AM, 江波 wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Community,
>>>
>>>
>>> I hope this message finds you well. My name is Nadia, and I
>>> represent KAIYUANSHE as the OSI Affiliate Member.
>>>
>>>
>>> I am reaching out to formally submit a new license, the Mulan
>>> Public Open Source License, for OSI approval. Below is a concise
>>> overview of the license.
>>>
>>>
>>> *Overview:*
>>>
>>> The Mulan Public License (Mulan PubL) belongs to the Mulan Open
>>> Source License family (https://license.coscl.org.cn/).
>>> Previously, the Mulan PSL v2 under the Mulan Open Source License
>>> family was OSI-approved in 2020. Mulan PubL v2 builds upon Mulan
>>> PSL v2 by adding copyleft provisions, restricting distribution
>>> conditions for emerging technologies like SaaS.
>>>
>>> Mulan PubL v2 stipulates that for "contributions" received, the
>>> license must be perpetuated for subsequent distributions. For
>>> "derivative works," not only must the license be maintained, but
>>> the source code download link for the "derivative work" must
>>> also be prominently provided for a period of 3 years.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *The differences between Mulan PubL v2 and mainstream licenses
>>> revolve around differences in distribution restrictions:*
>>>
>>> * *GPL:*
>>>
>>> 1. Distribute with the license, retaining disclaimers and other
>>> statements.
>>> 2. Distribute the modified version with a clear statement of
>>> the modified file with the date; if your modified program
>>> interacts with the user in the form of commands at runtime,
>>> the copyright and other notices must be displayed at the
>>> beginning of the program runtime.
>>> 3. Provide complete and easily compilable source code at the
>>> time of distribution.
>>> 4. Abandon distribution if you cannot comply with the
>>> conditions of this license.
>>>
>>> * *Mulan PubL v2:*
>>>
>>> 1. Distribute with the license, retaining disclaimers and other
>>> statements.
>>> 2. For “Contributions” received, the license must be retained
>>> for secondary distribution. For “Derivative Works”, a copy
>>> of this License must be provided, and the download address
>>> of the corresponding source code of the “Derivative Works”
>>> must be provided in a conspicuous place, with a constraint
>>> validity period of 3 years.
>>> 3. Provide recipients with a written offer indicating your
>>> willingness to provide the Corresponding Source Code of the
>>> Derivative Work licensed under this License. Such written
>>> offer shall be placed prominently in the Derivative Work or
>>> its accompanying documents. Without reasonable excuse, the
>>> recipient shall be able to acquire the Corresponding Source
>>> code of the Derivative work for no more than three months
>>> from your receipt of a valid request, and be valid no less
>>> than three years from your Distribution of the particular
>>> Derivative Work.
>>>
>>>
>>> *Key Features of Mulan PubL v2:*
>>>
>>> 1. Dual Chinese and English language provisions with equal
>>> legal standing.
>>> 2. Adherence to concise language principles for enhanced
>>> comprehension.
>>> 3. Explicit granting of copyright and patent rights, excluding
>>> trademark rights.
>>> 4. Imposition of restrictive distribution conditions for
>>> open-source software; conditional restrictions on
>>> distribution for cloud computing and SaaS.
>>>
>>>
>>> Mulan PubL v2 was released in May 2021 with version 2.0.
>>> Currently, 94 Chinese open-source projects support
>>> MulanPubL-2.0, with over 1.4K code repository applications.
>>> Notable applications include OceanBase
>>> (https://github.com/oceanbase/oceanbase
>>> <https://github.com/oceanbase/oceanbase>).
>>>
>>>
>>> *Here is the full text of the Mulan Public License, Version 2:
>>> http://license.coscl.org.cn/MulanPubL-2.0
>>> <http://license.coscl.org.cn/MulanPubL-2.0>*
>>>
>>>
>>> I am eager to engage in further discussions with the OSI
>>> community regarding this submission.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Best regards,
>>>
>>> Nadia Jiang
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> 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.
>>>
>>> License-review mailing list
>>> License-review at lists.opensource.org
>>> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org
>> --
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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.
>>
>> License-review mailing list
>> License-review at lists.opensource.org
>> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org
> --
> Pamela S. Chestek Chair, License Committee Open Source Initiative
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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.
>
> 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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