[License-discuss] Does the LinShare "attribution" notice violate OSD?

[Pamela Chestek]

On 9/20/2022 3:15 PM, Bradley M. Kuhn wrote:
> So, to stay “Linagora's LinShare license doesn't comply with
> OSD” is misleading.  It*does*  comply with OSD (and AGPLv3) because Lingora
> actually gives permission to remove all the problematic restrictions that
> concern all of us and would (theoretically, but for AGPLv3§7¶4) cause
> OSD-non-compliance.
So you are saying that it would be appropriate for the OSI to approve 
the license, they would just have their fingers crossed behind their 
back that it was with the knowledge that a provision is unenforceable? 
That's just silly, the OSI does not approve licenses that are facially 
non-compliant.

I think you're right that no one has a claim against the party adding 
the restriction, for example, in the situation where a party is using 
AGPL software and their terms of use prohibit redistribution, because 
the AGPL is not worded that way. It doesn't prohibit adding restrictions 
(so it's not a breach of contract to add them), the only relief is to 
remove them. Which you will do with /Neo4j/, which rejected exactly your 
theory about removing the restriction, lurking in the background.

And the OSI view on /Neo4j /is quite different from how you 
characterized it. There were two aspects of the decision, a false 
advertising one and a license interpretation one. OSI applauded the 
court's conclusion that the AGPL combined with the Commons Clause could 
not be called an open source license, which is a victory for open 
source. But the OSI also took a strong position against the court's 
interpretation of how the addition of the Commons Clause should have 
been treated in a blog post titled "User beware: Modified AGPLv3 removes 
freedoms, adds legal headaches 
<https://blog.opensource.org/modified-agplv3-removes-freedoms-adds-legal-headaches/>," 
a blog post that quoted and linked to the Conservancy position. Please 
be more accurate in your reporting.

Pam

Pamela S. Chestek
Chestek Legal
PO Box 2492
Raleigh, NC 27602
919-800-8033
pamela at chesteklegal.com
www.chesteklegal.com
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