Copied below is an email announcing the new W3C Software and Document License. This is a permissive open source license. This is good news.
This license is fully compatible with OpenMRS and our Contribution Policy. Here are the main license conditions. Please comply.
Permission to copy, modify, and distribute this work, with or without modification, for any purpose and without fee or royalty is hereby granted, provided that you include the following on ALL copies of the work or portions thereof, including modifications:
- The full text of this NOTICE in a location viewable to users of the redistributed or derivative work.
- Any pre-existing intellectual property disclaimers, notices, or terms and conditions. If none exist, the W3C Software and Document Short Notice should be included.
- Notice of any changes or modifications, through a copyright statement on the new code or document such as "This software or document includes material copied from or derived from [title and URI of the W3C document]. Copyright © [YEAR] W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio, Beihang).
Below is a copy of the W3C announcement itself::
From: Coralie Mercier Date: Fri, Jun 5, 2015 at 12:32 PM Subject: Adoption of new Software and Document License To: w3c-ac-forum@w3.org Cc: chairs@w3.org
Dear Advisory Committee Representatives, Chairs,
W3C has adopted the Software and Document License 1, an update to the W3C Software License, as the default permissive license in cases, such as relicensing of unfinished specs [2], where W3C has decided to use a permissive license.
The Software and Document License (renamed to indicate its suitability for text as well as software) is compatible with the GPL, permits copying and modification with attribution (by inclusion of a reference to the original W3C document), and can be used in W3C Community Groups, among other venues.
All work that W3C has previously made available under the prior W3C Software License [3] is also made available under the Software and Document License.
For Wendy Seltzer, W3C Counsel; Coralie Mercier, Acting Head of W3C Marketing & Communications
1 Software and Document license - 2015 version | Copyright | W3C [2] Relicensing Unfinished W3C Specifications [3] Software and Document license - 2002 version | Copyright | W3C
– Coralie Mercier - W3C Communications Team - http://www.w3.org Coralie Mercier - W3C Marketing & Communications