[Opensim-dev] Clarification on Licencing and Moving Forward as a Community

[Karen Palen]

As a minimum the OpenSimulator project should form an LLC if only to
have a "foil" to protect contributors from lawsuit/"patent" predators! 

That is exactly what an LLC is designed to do!

In Arizona an LLC can be formed for US$120 and I would be happy to do
the paperwork if there is a consensus on this ( I have formed a total of
8 LLCs, although I am NOT an Attorney. I am a "Patent Agent", but that
ONLY applies to patents.)

Karen

On Mon, 2010-11-01 at 13:28 -0700, Cristina Videira Lopes wrote:

> We have been discussing these issues internally for a while. The main  
> issue, from an organizational perspective, is that the project is not  
> part of any official organization, and, as such, cannot take signed  
> contributors' agreements that would do away with the strict  
> restrictions that we have in place.
> 
> Note that these restrictions are in place for a very good reason:  
> OpenSim is very close to one company's product, Second Life, and works  
> with their GPL client. However, the license is BSD; we don't want to  
> put people's businesses in danger by risking claims that there is code  
> in here that comes from a GPL project. That's the reason why these  
> very restrictive policies are in place: we're protecting the  
> businesses that are emerging on top of the platform.
> 
> Even though we all believe that Linden Lab would never do anything to  
> harass the OpenSim community, we are more cautious about Linden Lab's  
> next owner, assuming the likely possibility that LL will be acquired.  
> There are a lot of sharks out there...
> 
> So, not withstanding the LGPL issue, which I agree changes things a  
> little bit, the best way out of these restrictions once and for all is  
> for us to form an official non-profit organization. That will allow  
> that organization to receive signed contributors' agreements saying  
> that their contributions are, indeed, original -- even if they have  
> been involved in viewer development. Such agreements move the  
> responsibility to the individual contributors, instead of affecting  
> the project as a whole, as it is now.
> 
> We are moving in that direction.
> 
> Of course, there is nothing preventing groups of people from forming  
> development teams that have less restrictive policies. Risk is in the  
> eye of the beholder...
> 
> On Nov 1, 2010, at 12:57 PM, Ai Austin wrote:
> 
> > There has been a number of blog posts and descriptions recently of  
> > developments of OpenSim that seek to extend and solidify some of the  
> > results of the core developments.  This is great.  Diversity and  
> > rapid cycles of innovation is what a vibrant development community  
> > needs.  But we need to encourage some of the very best results of  
> > these efforts do find their way back to core and shared developments  
> > that benefit all.
> >
> > Reading the blog entries of these developments, it seems that a big  
> > issue is our lack of clarity of the policy on excluding those who  
> > have also been involved in developments of the viewers under the  
> > previously restrictive licence terms, and a clear mechanism for  
> > extending OpenSim beyond core modules t0 those things essential to  
> > make a useful environment.
> >
> > A few examples include:
> >     http://sanctuary.psmxy.org/2010/10/31/18/introducing-aurora/
> >     http://github.com/openmetaversefoundation/fortis-opensim
> >     http://www.meta7.com/
> >
> > The recent move of the Linden labs viewer licence to Lesser GPL is  
> > critical and completely removes the need to be restrictive on that  
> > score.  For over 20 years all developments in my group have been  
> > Lesser GPL to encourage really widespread and unrestricted take up  
> > of the results.
> >
> > Can I suggest that
> >
> > a) The Dev group now discuss this and immediately declare that the  
> > previous restriction on excluding developers who have seen LL viewer  
> > source code is removed due to the LGPL licence now in effect.
> >
> > b) That we adopt an approach that encourages inputs of elements and  
> > usability extensions (via optional modules) that are under LGPL or a  
> > suitable Creative Commons Licence.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Opensim-dev mailing list
> > Opensim-dev at lists.berlios.de
> > https://lists.berlios.de/mailman/listinfo/opensim-dev
> 
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