[License-discuss] [License-review] Encouraging discussion around the technicalities of licensing

[John Sullivan]

Simon Phipps <webmink at opensource.org> writes:

> [Moving this thread to license-discuss as it is not about a specific
> license]
>
> On Wed, Feb 6, 2019 at 10:40 PM Richard Fontana <
> richard.fontana at opensource.org> wrote:
>
>>
>> I lean towards disagreeing with this; I think that the business model of
>> the license submitter can be a material consideration when assessing
>> whether the proposed license meets the OSD and would guarantee software
>> freedom.
>>
>
> Just the submitter's business model, or the business models of any possible
> user of the license?

I guess "submitter's business model" is too broad, and really we're
talking about the "drafter" case right? So how about considering "the
part of the drafter's business model to which the license will be
applied"? This seems to offer insight as to how the license drafter
expects the license to function. Could be especially useful for deciding
how to read any ambiguities. The process should still consider other
possible interpretations of the ambiguities, but it seems likely that
the interpretations of the license author will carry weight, and the
business model is an embodiment of those interpretations.

-john

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John Sullivan | Executive Director, Free Software Foundation
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