I don't have any comment on the license, except to say that the escrow approach suggested by Franklin Siler seems like it should address this concern, and I believe has been frequently used by large companies wanting a small don't-know-how-long-they'll-exist company to escrow their source code in case they go out of business.
My main comment is on this phrase: "but they then have to give it all back" That phrase is commonly used, but wrong. The code was never taken from anyone, and no one gave it to them in the first place. They wrote it. They can give it away, but they can't give it back to anyone. Andy On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 5:11 AM, Fergal Byrne <fergalbyrnedub...@gmail.com> wrote: > Hi Frank, > > That's a great post (and the Mailpile post is also a great discussion of > the topic), thanks for sharing. > > The GPL already has a clause which allows the owner (and downstream user) > to defer, for 12 months, the full obligations of GPL - see this guy's take: > https://github.com/zooko/tgppl/blob/master/COPYING.TGPPL-v2-draft.rst > > Our idea is a bit more startup-friendly - on the commercial side of the > dual license, everyone can keep their improvements/extensions closed for up > to the full duration of the time-bomb, but they then have to give it all > back. > > As to enforceability, I'm guessing copying the language of GPL is > hopefully sufficient. These things are rarely tested as far as I know, but > I'm sure someone knows better than me. > > Appreciate the feedback, > > Fergal > > On Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 12:53 PM, Franklin M. Siler <m...@franksiler.com> > wrote: > >> On Jun 5, 2015, at 0517, Fergal Byrne <fergalbyrnedub...@gmail.com> >> wrote: >> >> > An old-school C++ dev and I have started an initiative to combine the >> best of Open Source with a limited commercial license. It's not a new idea >> - MySQL creator Monty Widenius thought of something less viral in 2013 [1]. >> > >> > The Time-Bombed Open License [2] is the commercial side of a >> dual-licensed project, best paired with something strongly viral like GPL. >> Essentially, the project owner has 2 (up to 4) years to commercialise their >> product and then must go fully Open Source. The license is viral, so any >> commercial licensees must also use the TBOL and eventually open up their >> derived products. >> > >> > One major idea is to foster a culture of disruption of exploitative >> industries. If you can develop software to disrupt in your local market, >> your innovation can be used similarly by others elsewhere, and each new >> startup can improve on your work while earning their keep. Eventually, all >> derived products become Open Source and are free to all. >> > >> > We'd appreciate any comments, feedback and assistance from the >> wonderful Clojure community - we're up on twitter at @OccupyStartups. >> >> I’ve written a lawyer friend who does more than I do with licensing; I >> teach in this area but don’t normally advise clients on it. I would be >> concerned that a court might not apply the license as intended, but then of >> course- you’d have to analyze whether these things ever wind up in front of >> a judge. >> >> This timed scheme seems like an overcomplicated way of achieving the >> desired result. It would be simpler, and less restrictive on the dev, to >> simply escrow your source. If you should become unable to support the >> software, the escrow agent is directed to publicize the source. >> >> I wrote a bit more about related issues for Mailpile: >> http://franksiler.com/on-choosing-open-licenses/ >> >> Frank >> >> >> >> Franklin M. Siler >> Counselor at Law ||| franksiler.com >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >> Groups "Clojure" group. >> To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com >> Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with >> your first post. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Clojure" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> > > > > -- > > Fergal Byrne, Brenter IT > > http://inbits.com - Better Living through Thoughtful Technology > http://ie.linkedin.com/in/fergbyrne/ - https://github.com/fergalbyrne > > Founder of Clortex: HTM in Clojure - > https://github.com/nupic-community/clortex > > Author, Real Machine Intelligence with Clortex and NuPIC > Read for free or buy the book at https://leanpub.com/realsmartmachines > > e:fergalbyrnedub...@gmail.com t:+353 83 4214179 > Join the quest for Machine Intelligence at http://numenta.org > Formerly of Adnet edi...@adnet.ie http://www.adnet.ie > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "Clojure" group. > To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com > Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with > your first post. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Clojure" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
