Bruce Perens, one of the authors of the Open Source definition and co-founder of the Open Source Initiative, introduced the first draft of a new license called 'Post-Open Zero-Cost', aimed at addressing the challenges faced in the interaction between open-source software developers and commercial companies in obtaining fair returns from the commercial use of code. The license reflects the possibility of imposing additional conditions on commercial use, for instance, companies benefiting from the use of open-source software are proposed to either participate in development or pay royalties that will be distributed among the direct developers. <\/p>\n
A key distinction of the Post-Open license from existing open licenses, such as the GPL, is the introduction of a contractual component that can be terminated in case of a breach of license terms. There are two types of contractual agreements provided \u2014 free and paid. The paid agreement allows for additional rights to be established and applies when commercially distributing products or making changes without public disclosure. <\/p>\n
The license also establishes the organization 'POST-OPEN ADMINISTRATION', acting on behalf of the licensors, serving as their legal representative, advocating for their rights when necessary, and managing the distribution of received funds considering contributions to development. The structure of the organization, which should employ transparent processes and financial mechanisms in its operations, has yet to be defined and is a subject of future discussions. <\/p>\n
Among the situations that can lead to the termination of contractual terms are: violations of license conditions; filing claims for patent infringement; imposition of additional conditions (for example, adding sanctions in contracts with clients in the event of dissemination of information about vulnerability fixes); making changes that fall under export control laws (for instance, for military purposes and weapon creation); concealing information about vulnerabilities or obstructing their disclosure; using code to train machine learning models that are distributed under different terms. Contractual relationships are not terminated immediately but only after 60 days following notification of a violation. If the violations are remedied within 60 days, the rights granted remain in force. <\/p>\n
Among the problems with the GPL that the new license aims to address is that the GPL focuses only on granting rights without the possibility of revoking someone\u2019s rights. This feature allows companies to circumvent the requirements of the GPL license regarding the provision of unlimited access to source code. In particular, loopholes are used to limit access to code through the imposition of additional contractual conditions with end users, which restrict the secondary distribution of the open code underlying the product. <\/p>\n
For instance, when purchasing a RHEL distribution, the client signs a support and update agreement with Red Hat, which restricts the redistribution of the data and mentions the right to terminate the agreement if the actual number of installed and purchased copies of RHEL does not match. This forces a choice between the freedom to manage the software and maintaining the status of a Red Hat client. The patches provided for RHEL that address vulnerabilities apply to GPL code, and according to the license, the user has the right to distribute them, but this can be perceived as a violation of the agreement with Red Hat and may lead to the termination of services by the company. <\/p>\n