[License-review] [2nd Resubmission] ModelGo Attribution License, Version 2.0

[McCoy Smith]

I'm going repeat my comments on the MG-0 license here since they are 
equally applicable to this license (which appears to replicate the text 
of MG-0, except for the addition of the conditions in 2.2):

1. The disclaimers are not made "conspicuous" as that term is defined in 
UCC 2-316: https://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/2/2-316 That has been 
interpreted as requiring something like ALL CAPS or bold, or a different 
color, or a box (although the criteria changed in 2022). This isn't 
necessarily a flaw (whether UCC is relevant to open source licenses is 
an interesting question) but the practice seems to be that most newer 
open source licenses try to adhere to this requirement (most by using 
ALL CAPS since that tends to be the only way to do this with .txt files 
or ASCII -- which non-lawyers tend to dislike because they interpret it 
as screaming without understanding why it's done that way).

2. I find the way the grants are structured sub-optimal in the way that 
it handles the right of performance under copyright law. Rather than 
being in the grant, it is subsumed into the definition of 
"Distribution/Distribute" and then grants a right to Distribute. All 
rights are granted (which is good, that way you don't have to rely on 
implied grants) but you do need to dig into the definitions to get there.

As to the Attribution version of the license, my only comment is this 
license requires in Section 2.2(i) that a copy of the license be 
provided. This is a fairly common provision of many so called 
"permissive" or non-copyleft licenses although I've always wondered what 
value this requirement provides, given that this license is intended (I 
believe) to be non-copyleft.

Otherwise, this license seems OK.

McCoy

[in my personal capacity and not as a member of the board]

On 6/18/2025 2:31 AM, Moming Duan wrote:
> Dear OSI Community,
>
>
> Following our previous discussions in May, I have made further 
> revisions to the ModelGo Attribution License (MG-BY-2.0). I am 
> submitting this updated version for OSI review via this email. The 
> license text is attached.
>
> —————— Major Updates to Previous Submission
>
> # Removes restrictions on model output.
> # Revises the termination clause to provide for automatic termination.
> # Adds more explicit granting of rights in Section 2.1.
> # Narrows the definition of “Derivative Materials” by including the 
> phrase: “in order to replicate, approximate, or otherwise achieve 
> functional behavior that is similar to the Model.”
> # Removes “Derivative Materials” in Section 5: “Nothing in this License 
> permits You to modify this License as applied to the Licensed Materials.”
> # Fixes typos and formatting issues.
>
> —————— License Introduction
> *
> *
> *License Name*:ModelGo Attribution License
> *Version*: 2.0
> *Short Identifier: *MG-BY-2.0
> *Copyleft:*No
> *Legacy or New*: New License
> *Drafted By Lawyer*: Yes, Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP
> *Approved or Used by Projects*: No
>
> *License URL*:https://ids.nus.edu.sg/modelgo-mg-by.html
> *Introduction and Video*:https://www.modelgo.li/
>
> *Overview*:
>
> ModelGo Attribution License Version 2.0 (MG-BY-2.0) is a new license 
> designed for publishing models (typically neural networks like Llama2, 
> DeepSeek). It is one of the variants in the ModelGo License family. 
> MG-BY-2.0 is the a permissive license in the ModelGo family, requiring 
> that the original license and attribution be provided when 
> distributing the original Licensed Materials or Derivative Materials 
> (Licensed Materials and Derivative Materials aredefined in Clause 1). 
> A statement of modification is required, if applicable.
> (Red content represents the differences from MG0-2.0 license)
>
> *Complies with OSD:*
> *
> *
> OSD 3 Derived Works — MG-BY-2.0 Clause 2.1 (a) grants copyright and 
> patent rights to create derivatives.
> OSD 5 and OSD 6 — No discrimination clause is included in MG-BY-2.0.
> OSD 9 License Must Not Restrict Other Software — No such restriction 
> is included in MG-BY-2.0.
>
> *The Gap to Fill:*
> Model sharing is very common on the web, with over 1.4 million models 
> currently listed on Hugging Face (https://huggingface.co/models). 
> However, most of these models are not properly licensed. When 
> publishing their models, developers typically choose from three main 
> options (as seen in the model license tags on the Hugging Face website):
>
>   * OSS licenses, e.g., Apache-2.0, MIT
>   * Open responsible AI licenses (OpenRAILs),
>     e.g., CreativeML-OpenRAIL-M, OpenRAIL++
>   * Proprietary Licenses, e.g., Llama2, Llama3
>
>
> However, not all licenses are well-suited for model publishing.
>
> *Why not use OSS licenses? *
> Traditional OSS licenses lack clear definitions regarding machine 
> learning concepts, such as Models, Output, and Derivatives created 
> through knowledge transfer. This ambiguity can result in certain ML 
> activities (e.g., Distillation, Mix-of-Expert) being beyond the 
> control of the model owner.
>
> *Why not use OpenRAILs? *
> Recently, Responsible AI Licenses (https://www.licenses.ai/) have been 
> widely advocated to govern AI technologies, aiming to restrict 
> unlawful and unethical uses of models. While I acknowledge the growing 
> need for such governance, these copyleft-style restrictions do not 
> comply with the OSD and may cause incompatibility with licenses like 
> GPL-3.0. Another concern is that these behavioral restrictions may 
> proliferate within the AI model ecosystem, increasing the risk of 
> license breaches.
>
> *Why not use Llama2 or Llama3 Licenses?*
> These licenses are proprietary licenses that are not reusable. 
> Furthermore, they include exclusive terms such as "You will not use 
> the Llama Materials or any output or results of the Llama Materials to 
> improve any other large language model" and copyleft-style behavioral 
> restrictions.
>
> In fact, the dilemma in current model publishing is the lack of a 
> general-purpose license for model developers. Additionally, since no 
> single license meets diverse model publishing needs, some developers 
> resort to using CC licenses with different elements. However, CC 
> licenses are ill-suited for this purpose as they do not grant patent 
> rights. This motivated the drafting of ModelGo License family, which 
> provides different licensing elements similar to CC but specifically 
> designed for model publishing.
>
> *Comparison with Existing OSI-Approved Licenses:*
> Since I could not find an OSI-approved model license, I can only 
> compare MG-BY-2.0 with one similar OSS license — Apache-2.0
>
> # MG-BY-2.0 defines licensed materials and derivative works differently 
> from Apache-2.0, tailoring them to models.
> # MG-BY-2.0 can govern the remote access (e.g., chatbot) scenario.
>
> If further comparisons or supporting evidence are needed to strengthen 
> my claims, please let me know. I am more than willing to engage in 
> further discussions with the OSI community about this license and 
> contribute to promoting standardized model publishing. 🤗
>
>
> Best,
> Moming
>
>
>
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