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It is only works authored by government employees in the scope of
their employment that are dedicated to the public. There may also be
code written by third parties, contractors for example, that would
still be protected by copyright. The U.S. government can (and
sometimes <a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp2/115/1089/2580278/">will</a>)
enforce copyright that has been assigned to them.<br>
<br>
Pam<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">Pamela S. Chestek<br>
Chestek Legal<br>
4641 Post St.<br>
Unit 4316<br>
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762<br>
+1 919-800-8033<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pamela@chesteklegal.com">pamela@chesteklegal.com</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.chesteklegal.com">www.chesteklegal.com</a><br>
<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/30/2025 8:05 AM, McCoy Smith
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:f406a013-4332-486f-841a-84412b1fe33a@lexpan.law">
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<p>It's always been the position of the US government that
although by statute (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/105</a>)
government-created works may not be copyrighted in the USA, they
may be protected by copyright outside the USA: <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.usa.gov/government-copyright</a>.
USG may also hold copyright in assigned works.</p>
<p>It also seems to me like 5(2) of Berne provides protection even
if country of origin denies it: <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/5.html"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://www.law.cornell.edu/treaties/berne/5.html</a></p>
<p>It's an interesting question as to whether the disclaimers are
effective in the USA if there are no copyright rights to be
granted in the USA. Not sure I know the answer to that, although
I suspect in the USA you would not need to follow the
attribution requirements.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, Lucas, I think you need to complete all the
formalities for submission for approval of this license:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://opensource.org/licenses/review-process"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://opensource.org/licenses/review-process</a></p>
<p>Since you've submitted it as a legacy approval, you at least
need to do the following:<br>
<br>
<br>
Describe what gap not filled by currently existing licenses that
the new license will fill.<br>
Compare it to and contrast it with the most similar OSI-approved
license(s).<br>
Describe any legal review the license has been through,
including whether it was drafted by a lawyer.<br>
<br>
</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 9/30/2025 1:57 AM, Carlo Piana via
License-review wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:1761719293.16850219.1759222662412.JavaMail.zimbra@piana.eu">
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<div>Lucas,</div>
<div><br data-mce-bogus="1">
</div>
<div>if I understand correctly, this should not technically be
a license, since the software is not subject to copyright in
the USA as far as it has been created by NIST employees. I
think that if software is not given protection in the state
of first publication is not protected even elsewhere, under
the Berne Convention, therefore this is basically a
dedication to public domain, whose primary scope is the
liability disclaimer(s). </div>
<div><br data-mce-bogus="1">
</div>
<div>However, the "provided that you keep intact this entire
notice" is technically (US lawyers please help) a condition,
that means this is a license with conditional grant, after
all. The other condition-like provision uses the verb
"should", which is more of an invite, at face value. </div>
<div><br data-mce-bogus="1">
</div>
<div>I do not see anything that would prevent this text to be
approved, maybe in the "non reusable" category. But could
NIST give us their position on the above discussion, for the
sake of clarity, please?</div>
<div><br data-mce-bogus="1">
</div>
<div>Cheers</div>
<div><br data-mce-bogus="1">
</div>
<div>Carlo (in his personal provisional view and capacity)</div>
<div><br data-mce-bogus="1">
</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<hr id="zwchr" data-marker="__DIVIDER__">
<div data-marker="__HEADERS__">
<blockquote style="border-left:2px solid
#1010FF;margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px;color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><b>Da:
</b>"Hale, Lucas M. (Fed) via License-review" <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:license-review@lists.opensource.org"
moz-do-not-send="true"><license-review@lists.opensource.org></a><br>
<b>A: </b><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:license-review@lists.opensource.org"
moz-do-not-send="true">"license-review@lists.opensource.org"</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:license-review@lists.opensource.org"
moz-do-not-send="true"><license-review@lists.opensource.org></a><br>
<b>Cc: </b>"Hale, Lucas M. (Fed)" <a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="mailto:lucas.hale@nist.gov" moz-do-not-send="true"><lucas.hale@nist.gov></a><br>
<b>Inviato: </b>Lunedě, 29 settembre 2025 22:13:02<br>
<b>Oggetto: </b>[License-review] Review for the NIST
Software License<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
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<div class="WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Hi
OSI reviewers!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">I
would like to submit the National Institute of
Standards and Technology (NIST) Software license for
review to be included in your list. This is the
primary license that NIST staff are expected to use
when releasing software.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">The
license complies with the Open Source Definition,
including the OSD 3, 5, 6 and 9 criteria.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">There
are numerous projects using the NIST software. For
instance, there are 1.3K repositories at <a
href="https://github.com/usnistgov"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://github.com/usnistgov</a>
that should all be using the license. As such, it
falls under the legacy category.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">The
NIST license is also listed on the main NIST website
<a
href="https://www.nist.gov/open/copyright-fair-use-and-licensing-statements-srd-data-software-and-technical-series-publications"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">
https://www.nist.gov/open/copyright-fair-use-and-licensing-statements-srd-data-software-and-technical-series-publications</a>,
and has an SPDX listing <a
href="https://spdx.org/licenses/NIST-Software.html"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://spdx.org/licenses/NIST-Software.html</a>.
Under both sites, it is titled \u201cNIST Software
License\u201d</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Thank
you for your time and consideration!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Sincerely,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt">Lucas
Hale</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"> </span></p>
</div>
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