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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">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">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">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">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"
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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__">
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<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"><license-review@lists.opensource.org></a><br>
<b>A: </b><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:license-review@lists.opensource.org">"license-review@lists.opensource.org"</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:license-review@lists.opensource.org"><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"><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>
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<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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