[License-review] The Vaccine License

Bruce Perens bruce at perens.com
Tue Oct 29 21:42:33 UTC 2019 

Totally agree that those who eschew vaccination, *especially *those who
make such a decision for *their own children,* are criminal morons.

And if we had to have licenses like this, vaccine would be a good cause.
But we don't have to have licenses like this. Direct law would be
effective, these terms would not be.

I would vote for laws requiring vaccination. I don't think anyone has won
that fight yet, but I hope they do.

I have already written two blog postings on the issue of "ethical"
licenses, one including this proposed license:
https://perens.com/2019/10/12/invasion-of-the-ethical-licenses/
https://perens.com/2019/09/23/sorry-ms-ehmke-the-hippocratic-license-cant-work/

    Thanks

    Bruce


On Tue, Oct 29, 2019 at 12:18 PM Filli Liberandum <
filliliberandum at vaccinelicense.com> wrote:

> Honored Board Members of the Open Source Initiative and members in the
> license-review process,
>
> This is a submission for approval as per the license review process
> documented at  https://opensource.org/approval
>
> *Type of submission:* Approval
> *License name:* Vaccine License
>
> *Text of the license:*
>
> The Vaccine License
>
> *Version 1.0, October 2019*
>
> SPDX: Vaccine-1.0
>
> https://www.vaccinelicense.com/vaccine-license/
> <http://www.apache.org/licenses/>
>
> PRELUDE
>
> Open Source developers should work for good, not evil. The misguided
> rejection of vaccination is one of the greatest evils that has ever
> existed. The *Vaccine License* is a software license that requires that
> users vaccinate their children, and themselves, and that user businesses
> make a similar requirement of their employees, to the greatest extent
> legally possible.
>
> The Vaccine License is derivative of the text of the Apache License, but
> with significantly modified language and very different effect. The license
> is reciprocal, and the grant of copyright and patent license rights only
> applies so long as the user complies with local vaccination recommendations.
>
> TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
>
> 1. Definitions.
>
> “License” shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction, and
> distribution defined by this document.
>
> “Licensor” shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by the
> copyright owner that is granting the License.
>
> “Legal Entity” shall mean the union of the acting entity and all other
> entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common control with
> that entity. For the purposes of this definition, “control” means (i) the
> power, direct or indirect, to cause the direction or management of such
> entity, whether by contract or otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty
> percent (50%) or more of the outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial
> ownership of such entity.
>
> “Source” form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
> including but not limited to software source code, documentation source,
> and configuration files.
>
> “Object” form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
> transformation or translation of a Source form, including but not limited
> to compiled object code, generated documentation, and conversions to other
> media types.
>
> “Work” shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or Object
> form, made available under the License, as indicated by a copyright notice
> that is included in or attached to the work (an example is provided in the
> Appendix below).
>
> “Derivative Works” shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object form,
> that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the editorial
> revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications represent, as
> a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes of this License,
> Derivative Works shall not include works that remain separable from, or
> merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of, the Work and Derivative
> Works thereof.
>
> “Contribution” shall mean any work of authorship, including the original
> version of the Work and any modifications or additions to that Work or
> Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally submitted to Licensor for
> inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner or by an individual or Legal
> Entity authorized to submit on behalf of the copyright owner. For the
> purposes of this definition, “submitted” means any form of electronic,
> verbal, or written communication sent to the Licensor or its
> representatives, including but not limited to communication on electronic
> mailing lists, source code control systems, and issue tracking systems that
> are managed by, or on behalf of, the Licensor for the purpose of discussing
> and improving the Work, but excluding communication that is conspicuously
> marked or otherwise designated in writing by the copyright owner as “Not
> a Contribution.“
>
> “Contributor” shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity on
> behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
> subsequently incorporated within the Work.
>
> “Medical Doctor” shall mean a professional who has completed a
> science-based education in the practice of medicine, and has been licensed
> or authorized by the government of the place where they practice to be the
> primary authority to plan and order the medical care that should be
> provided to a particular patient.
>
> “Vaccine” shall mean a biological preparation that provides
> active acquired immunity to a particular disease, which is prepared,
> recommended, and administered under the supervision of a Medical Doctor.
>
> “Vaccination” shall mean the administration of vaccine to a patient.
>
> “Local Vaccination Authority” shall mean a government agency tasked with
> guiding the control of disease by recommending vaccination of persons,
> which enacts the advice of Medical Doctors. In the United States, this
> shall be the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention, or any successor
> agency to that one which is given the same task.
>
> “Local Vaccination Recommendations” shall mean recommendations published
> by the Local Vaccination Authority which recommend vaccines which should be
> administered to certain persons, on the basis of age, travel destination,
> occupation, health status, and other factors. An example is “Recommended
> Vaccines by Age”, which has been published by the United States Centers for
> Disease Control and Prevention.
>
> “Complying Person” shall mean a natural person who, to the extent that
> they are able to do so, under the direction and care of a Medical Doctor,
> elects to have administered to themselves and to all legal minors to whom
> they are parent or guardian all vaccines recommended by their Local
> Vaccination Recommendations which are appropriate for the patient’s medical
> condition. This requirement is waived only to the extent that it is not
> reasonably possible, for example if the person can not afford the vaccine,
> does not have access to it, or can not make the vaccine decision without
> the consent of another party which will not agree.
>
> “Complying Legal Entity” shall mean a Legal Entity other than a natural
> person that, to the greatest extent legally possible in its locality,
> requires its employees to be Complying Persons. This requirement is waived
> only to the extent that the government where it is applied would prohibit
> its application.
>
> “You” (or “Your“) shall mean a Complying Person or Complying Legal Entity
> exercising permissions granted by this License.
>
> 2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
> this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a worldwide,
> non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, copyright license to reproduce,
> prepare Derivative Works of, publicly display, publicly perform and
> distribute the Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form, so
> long as You remain a Complying Person or Complying Legal Entity.
>
> 3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this
> License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a worldwide, non-exclusive,
> no-charge, royalty-free, patent license to make, have made, use, offer to
> sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work, where such license
> applies only to those patent claims licensable by such Contributor that are
> necessarily infringed by their Contribution(s) alone or by combination of
> their Contribution(s) with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was
> submitted, so long as You remain a Complying Person or Complying Legal
> Entity.
>
> If You institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
> cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work or a
> Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct or
> contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses granted to You
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> litigation is filed.
>
> 4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the Work or
> Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without modifications, and
> in Source or Object form, provided that You meet the following conditions:
>
>    1. You must place all Derivative Works under the terms and conditions
>    of this license; and
>    2. You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works
>    a copy of this License; and
>    3. You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
>    stating that You changed the files; and
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>    own attribution notices within Derivative Works that You distribute,
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>    such additional attribution notices cannot be construed as modifying the
>    License.
>
>    You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications.
>
> 5. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
> names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor, except
> as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the origin of
> the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
>
> 6. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or agreed to
> in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each Contributor provides its
> Contributions) on an “AS IS” BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
> KIND, either express or implied, including, without limitation, any
> warranties or conditions of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or
> FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for
> determining the appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and
> assumes any risks associated with exercise of permissions under this
> License.
>
> 7. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
> whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise, unless
> required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly negligent acts)
> or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be liable to You for
> damages, including any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or
> consequential damages of any character arising as a result of this License
> or out of the use or inability to use the Work (including but not limited
> to damages for loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or
> malfunction, or any and all other commercial damages or losses), even if
> such Contributor has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
>
> 8. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing the
> Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer, and charge a fee
> for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity, or other liability
> obligations and/or rights consistent with this License. However, in
> accepting such obligations, You may act only on Your own behalf and on Your
> sole responsibility, not on behalf of any other Contributor, and only if
> You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any
> liability incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by
> reason of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
>
> END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
>
> *end of license text.*
>
> *Rationale:*
>
> Open Source software is used to commit all sorts of evil. Open Source
> developers contribute their work freely to be used in this way. It’s time
> for Open Source developers to *ask for something *in return for that work.
>
> *But what to ask for?* We have chosen vaccination, because the need for
> it is scientifically verified, because so many people are killed or maimed
> because their parents deny them vaccination, and because the ignorance that
> causes rejection of vaccination is an easily-identifiable evil. There are
> no legal ambiguities where rejection of vaccination is concerned, so it is
> simple to require it in a license.
>
> The rejection of vaccination is not a distant evil. It is happening right
> around you. It effects people you care about, but you’re unable to
> intervene. Or you were, until now.
>
> Here are some expected arguments which might be attempted as justification
> to reject the Vaccine License.
>
> Argument: *The Vaccine License does not benefit the Open Source Community
> sufficiently to be adopted as an Open Source License.*
>
> Refutation: *By improving the physical health of members of the Open
> Source Community, since it requires that those members get their shots, the
> Vaccine License is of greater benefit to the community than any other
> license that simply governs the use, distribution, and modification of
> software.*
>
> Argument: *The Vaccine License Violates Article 5
> <https://opensource.org/osd/#persons-or-groups> of the Open Source
> Definition <https://opensource.org/osd>, “No Discrimination Against Persons
> or Groups”, since it discriminates against anti-vaxers.*
>
> Refutation: The text of *Article 5 *is
>
> The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
>
> Since any person or group, without exception, may receive a vaccine which
> is medically appropriate for them, the Vaccine License does not
> discriminate against any person or group. So-called “anti-vaxxers” identify
> themselves by their misguided rejection of vaccines, but such rejection is
> an *action *rather than *membership in a group.*
>
> Argument: *The Vaccine License Violates Article 6
> <https://opensource.org/osd/#fields-of-endeavor> of the Open Source
> Definition, “No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor”*
>
> Refutation: The text of *Article 6* is
>
> The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a
> specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program
> from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
>
> The Vaccine License does not include terms discriminating against any
> field of endeavor. It only places a requirement upon Complying Legal
> Entities that, to the greatest extent legally possible, they perform that
> field of endeavor using Complying Persons as their employees. There is an
> exception in the Vaccine License if such an action is prohibited by the
> locality’s law.
>
> *Distinguish (from other OSI-approved licenses):* There is not a similar
> license currently approved by the OSI
>
> *Legal Review:* The license was prepared by a licensing professional. In
> the client's best interest, the legal review can not be made public. We
> note that other license submissions have not submitted a detailed legal
> review.
>
> *License proliferation category: *This license is not yet popular. It is
> not duplicative of other licenses.
>
>     Respectfully Submitted
>
>     *Filli Liberandum*
> _______________________________________________
> License-review mailing list
> License-review at lists.opensource.org
>
> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org
>


-- 
Bruce Perens - Partner, OSS.Capital.
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