[License-review] For Approval: OpenMDW License Agreement, versions 1.1 (OpenMDW-1.1)

[Josh Berkus]

On 8/29/26 5:00 AM, Richard Fontana via License-review wrote:
> I'd also note again that the history of patent-assertion-triggered
> termination in post-1998 open source licenses was not characterized by
> unbridled or uncritical enthusiasm. There was a legacy of skepticism
> and suspicion around the general category of provision that had not
> been forgotten by ~2016. That's just about the time that Facebook
> started using a bespoke BSD-derived license with a patent termination
> provision that seemed to unwittingly revive the overreaching
> approaches to patent termination in certain earlier licenses, for
> which it was widely criticized, including by some who were associated
> with the OSI. I realize that if you ignore the copyright issue, the
> termination clause in OpenMDW-1.1*looks* like the kind of patent
> termination provisions that had come to be seen as boringly benign.
> But I think everyone would have been on their guard about any sort of
> novel litigation-triggered termination provision, particularly one
> where the novelty was the extension to copyright.

Thanks for that perspective.

I'll stand by my claim, though, that any argument that can be made 
against the principle* of a copyright antisuit provision applies equally 
to a patent one.  And that if OSI decides that the former isn't 
OSI-compliant, then the latter isn't either, and we're going to need to 
revisit a lot of licenses.

(* not arguing specific wording here, since that can obviously need changes)

-- 
Josh Berkus