A Commercial Reuse License Can Be the Best of Both Worlds (2016)

kartick-log.blogspot.com

27 points·bshanks··5 comments

this post doesn't really attempt to hash out the details, but the general idea is good

i've taken a crack at writing such a license - http://db4j.org/pupl/

would love any feedback

My only feedback is "thanks!"

You didn't write the "automatic buy-out" clause is that intentional? I find it interesting because it allows big business to use your small project with an upper price tag, versus the current situation where they are afraid of mistakenly infringing IP because that opens to lawsuit with unbounded fines.

> You didn't write the "automatic buy-out" clause is that intentional?

i don't like the exclusive buy-out that the blog post mentions since that creates risk for other users

i toyed with a non-exclusive buyout but couldn't come up with anything i felt was general enough, and i wanted to keep the license as short as practical. however, a copyright owner could choose to offer such a guarantee in addition, and i'll take another look

i did include the "reasonable effort to comply" clause to try to avoid unbounded fines

what sort of a multiplier on the "full cost" do you think would work for you ?

I guess the elephant is the room is piracy. How do you enforce people paying you if you let the source available so that other can reuse it?

Should you let your app be closed source and share the code only on formal request? So you have a paper trail?

Otherwise I like the idea.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com