Bradley M. Kuhn, a founder of the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and former director of the Free Software Foundation, and Richard Fontana, one of the three key authors of the GPLv3 license (the other two being Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen) and former director of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), announced the revival of work on the Copyleft-next license. Development of the new license began in 2012 under the name GPL.next, but the project has not progressed since 2016.
The goal of the project is to develop a next-generation copyleft license to replace the GPLv3 license, while taking into account modern realities and the needs of corporations developing free projects. It is noted that the GPLv3 license has turned 18 years old, while the GPLv2 is 34 years old, and during this time there has been a growing need within the community to reconsider the implementation of strict copyleft.
The text of the Copyleft-next license is based on the GPLv3 license, stripped of unnecessary encumbrances and restrictions, which has improved compatibility with permissive licenses and allowed for portability with projects under the Apache license. The license has been significantly shortened and simplified for better understanding (for example, the introduction with the policy of the Free Software Foundation was removed, as well as the appendix with explanations on application and mentions of redundant and outdated compromises).
One of its principal differences from existing copyleft licenses is the "Copyleft Sunset" clause, which eliminates the requirement for copyleft compliance 15 years after the first publication of a work under the Copyleft-next license. Specifically, after 15 years, the license turns permissive, as sections 3-5 related to the distribution of derivative products under the Copyleft-next license, the prohibition on imposing additional restrictions, and the mandatory availability of source code when distributing binary builds cease to be in effect.
Another atypical innovation is the annulment of copyleft protection in cases of dual licensing of a project — under the Copyleft-next license and a commercial license. If a product is additionally supplied under a commercial license or under terms that contradict the criteria of the OSI or the Free Software Foundation, then in the free version of the product, sections 3-5 that provide copyleft protection for the work cease to apply (the license becomes permissive).
A Copyleft-next lehetőségei közül megemlítendő a licensz visszavonása a felhasználási feltételek megsértése esetén (például ha egy származékos terméket kezdenek forgalmazni anélkül, hogy hozzáférést biztosítanának a forráskódhoz). A jogsértés kijavítására 13 nap áll rendelkezésre. A licencet visszavonják azoktól is, akik pert indítanak a szabadalmak megsértése miatt (kivételt képeznek a viszontkeresetek), amelyek átfedik a Copyleft-next licenc alatt álló projektet.
Forrás: opennet.ru
