Open software license

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Important information is missing from this article or section. Help Wikipedia by researching and pasting it .

The Open Software License (OSL) is an open source license developed by Lawrence Rosen . The Open Source Initiative (OSI) certified the license as a valid Open Source license, but version 1.1 was later declared by the Debian project to be incompatible with the DFSG . The OSL is a copyleft license with a termination clause that comes into effect in the event of a patent litigation.

Many contributors to the open source movement believe that patents are harmful to software, and particularly harmful to open source software. The OSL tries to counteract this by creating a collection of programs that the user can use, unless the user is trying to harm it by filing a patent infringement lawsuit.

Key functions

Termination clause in the event of litigation due to patent infringement

The OSL has a termination clause designed to prevent users from seeking patent infringement litigation:

“10) Termination for Patent Action. This License shall terminate automatically and You may no longer exercise any of the rights granted to You by this License as of the date You commence an action, including a cross-claim or counterclaim, against Licensor or any licensee alleging that the Original Work infringes a patent. This termination provision shall not apply for an action alleging patent infringement by combinations of the Original Work with other software or hardware. "

Preservation of origin

Another goal of the OSL is to preserve their origin.

“7) Warranty of Provenance and Disclaimer of Warranty. Licensor warrants that the copyright in and to the Original Work and the patent rights granted in by Licensor are owned by the Licensor or are sublicensed to You under the terms of this License with the permission of the contributor (s) of those copyrights and patent rights . ”

Comparison with LGPL / GPL

The OSL is intentionally similar to the LGPL . It should be noted that the definition of derivative works in the OSL does not include linking to OSL software or libraries , which is why software that links OSL software is not part of the OSL license.

The OSL is incompatible with the GPL . It is claimed that the OSL is intended to be legally stronger than the GPL, however, unlike the GPL, the OSL has never been tested in court and is not widely used.

Limitation of the license

The restriction in Section 9 of the License is:

"If You distribute or communicate copies of the Original Work or a Derivative Work, You must make a reasonable effort under the circumstances to obtain the express assent of recipients to the terms of this License."

When analyzing the OS license, the Free Software Foundation says that "this restriction means that redistributing OSL software on regular FTP sites, sending patches to regular mailing lists, or storing the software in a version control system is a violation of the May be guidelines of the license and thus expose the infringer to a possible termination of the license. Therefore, the OSL makes it difficult to develop software with the commonly used tools of free software development. "

distribution

If the FSF's claim turns out to be true, the main difference between the GPL and the OSL is the possible restrictions on redistribution. Both licenses impose relative reciprocity, which requires creators of extensions to the software under the license to publish them under the same license as the original work.

Termination clause in patent litigation

The patent infringement termination clause described above is another significant difference between the OSL and the GPL.

Further instructions

  • Derivative works must be redistributed under the same license. (§1c)
  • The works distributed under the license must be accompanied by the source code or access to the source code must be made possible in some other way (§3)
  • There are no restrictions with regard to the calculation of costs for programs under the license, but the source code must be attached or made available at a reasonable cost (§3)
  • Works that are licensed and distributed must include a verbatim copy of the license (§16)
  • The distribution requires (but nowhere explicitly mentioned) a royalty-free license for all patents that the software contains (§2)

Later versions

It is optional, but common, for the copyright owner to add “or a later version” to the license's distribution terms to control distribution under future versions of the license. This term is not mentioned directly in the OSL. However, this would not be in accordance with Section 16, which requires a verbatim copy of the license.

Open software that is under the OSL

See also

Web links

swell

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ http://www.opensource.org/licenses/osl-3.0.php
  2. ↑ http://wiki.debian.org/DFSGLicenses#head-2b7e4b3507dcc5657dabaf145df20d6c7d41f159
  3. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from October 4, 2002 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.opensource.org
  4. ↑ http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/feb2006/tc20060206_503666.htm
  5. ↑ http://www.linuxelectrons.com/article.php/2004090214423940
  6. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rosenlaw.com
  7. ↑ http://www.gnu.org/philosophy
  8. ↑ http://www.airs.com/ian/essays/licensing/licensing.html
  9. ↑ http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html