-
Open Source When We Say So
still stronger claims of self-authority in OSI’s new AI “definition”
-
Open Source Company as Costco
parallels weak and strong
-
Negotiating Bastardry
unexpected wisdom from a motorcycle channel
-
Llama 3 versus LLama 3.1 License Terms
handy redline and takeaways
-
Not The Same Security Debate
open source security today is different in kind
-
Pick-From-a-List Tools
my favorite heretical UNIX programs
-
Blue Oak Contributor License
it’s just a license
-
Free and Open in the Latest Draft of the EU Cyber Resilience Act
-
Copyleft Intolerance and the Defining-Open Mind Trap
forgetting licensing history past, we fail to repeat our successes
-
Unlimited Indemnity for Unpaid Developers?
James Bottomley on liability, politics, and forgotten boilerplate
-
Support the Blue Oak License List
fund the Web’s actionable allow-list of software licenses
-
PolyForm Countdown
a simple, solid form for changing your license later
-
Toward PolyForm Shield Version 2
streamline and revise for easier reading
-
A Short, Simple Template for Scheduled Relicensing
decouple license rules from how we relax them
-
Amazon Has a Restricted License, Too
this is not a bad thing
-
We Were Wrong About the GPLs
an unsurprising admission in Conservancy v. Vizio
-
Understanding “RISC-y Business”
trading chips progression for chips advantage
-
Recommended Resource: CRS Congressional Court Watcher
free briefs of new cases
-
Two Kinds of “Relicensing”
going-forward and retroactive
-
Two Kinds of “Dual Licensing”
a license operator and a business model
-
Overloaded
putting finer points on established fuzzy terms
-
Real and Imagined CLA Overreach
CLAs go wrong when they act like hiring terms
-
Exactly the Wrong AI Copyrightability Case
Creativity Machine guy assumed away the debate and lost
-
HashiCorp’s New Licensing
a new benchmark for presenting license change
-
Where is the rule that makes vague license rules legal no-ops?
fear, uncertainty, and doubt upon ethical licenses
-
No Office Hours
Internet down hard
-
Utah Social Media Regulation Act
two new laws on social media and children
-
You Do Not Have a Shoe Size
thirty-five years standing over a bad assumption
-
On-Cloud Licensing
the wheel of software delivery keeps on turning
-
NVIDIA Prismer License
another noncommercial model license, kind of
-
Open Source Unsolved Security
the pointy-headed corpo-types warned us
-
Wikimedia’s Terms of Use
thoughts from a recent review
-
European Office Hours
more scheduled for next month
-
The Law Does Not Require Legalese
a reassuring dive into contract interpretation
-
Sneaking Things In
yes, lawyers actually do this
-
Open RAIL-M Is More Unclear Than Scary
Does AI devs want to fight abuse, or just not feel bad about enabling it?
-
Open Game License Version 1.2 Draft
how to say “irrevocable” like you mean it when you just revoked everybody’s licenses
-
Office Hours
call in and ask me questions
-
Type Error: “Democratizing”
runaway sales speak hits the curb again
-
Delayed Release in Investigative Reporting
newsroom licensing strategy in familiar software terms
-
This Rich To Open Source
neglected Torvalds straight-talk on how great software gets made, and by who
-
MicroHub Sponsorplace
one software store, many corporate faces
-
Open Market for Open Software
coders who can’t afford to do open source will revolutionize software
-
Notice by Hyperlink
can’t we just link to the licenses file for our JavaScript?
-
Waypoint NDA 4.0.0
now with mergers and acquisitions terms
-
Putting Software in the Public Domain
if you want “waive” or “dedicate”, you should probably just “license”
-
Trademark Undefined Behavior
the awkward hole in free and open IP
-
Thoughts on Web Footnotes
links, notes, asides, details, and parentheticals
-
Briefless Barristers and Lawyerless Clients
future Supreme Court justice to young lawyers in 1939
-
Time Off Summer ’22
out of office August 7 through 20
-
New Microsoft Word Comments Weirdness
a gotcha for legal power users
-
Legal Sources for Not-a-Lawyers
learn some law without totally warping your brain
-
Priest Against Priesthood
father of FORTRAN on programming in the fifties
-
The Work, the Tech, and the Crime
blockchain deserves no regulatory favors
-
Text Prudent
what everyone should know about texting, chatting, and the law
-
Max Korzh’s “His Home”
a Russian-language rap translation
-
Legal Versioning
refined scheme for functional prose projects
-
From Copy to Reference
a plan to evolve legal drafting
-
Zelensky Compound NDA
the mystery of the ritual runs deeper than law
-
Copy-and-Paste Goes to Russia
lawyering by rote in the crazy 1990s
-
EULAs Aren’t Inherently Evil
proprietary done right can beat free and open for users
-
HTML Scripting Tools
a few free packages I’ve come to use
-
The Russians Are Coming
hire the nerds for peace, profit, and progress!
-
FOSS Fundraiser for Ukraine?
donors ask questions, panel of licensing lawyers answers
-
The Open Source Initiative Did Not Win Neo4j v. PureThink
everywhere it looks, OSI sees itself, and in triumph
-
Getting the Most From Common Computer Filing Systems
fundamental techniques for Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and others
-
Russia’s “Fake News” Law
a quick translation
-
Switching Open Software Terms
yes, you can switch from MIT to something else
-
You And Whose GitHub?
Russian tech source reports state mulling GitHub clone
-
What Must Be Said
Boris Grebenshchikov in London
-
Russia to Legalize Software Piracy
my show is canceled, business news reports
-
Ukraine
donate money against this horrible war
-
Devs Use Closed Software
too many devs pretend otherwise
-
Universal Basic Cop-Out
We know how to pay devs for software. Some of us just prefer not to.
-
Software Pay Data 2020
data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
Be the Water Boy (or Girl!) for Your Neighborhood
East Oakland Collective’s EBMUD hydrant meter is ready for action
-
Big Time Public License 2.0.0
much improved by generous feedback
-
Second Draft of Waypoint for M&A
refining acquisition-specific terms to the standard business NDA
-
Fast Path
cutting-edge legal terms for software license sales
-
MIT for Noncommercial is Broken
use a real noncommercial software license
-
Payability, Form, and Substance
getting company to pay you isn’t just about a legal entity
-
To-Do List Polling
event-based meatspace task management
-
Pay the Fiddler
pithy wisdom from days of yore
-
Square One 2e1u
addressing an interesting Utah peculiarity
-
AWS Contributor Licensing Blurb
another mutation from the cauldron of CLA angst
-
What Do We Call Functional Specs for Legal Forms?
seeking help naming a concept
-
Waypoint for M&A
adding acquisition-specific terms to the standard business NDA
-
Correlation and Causation Symbols
good shorthand against bad mental shortcuts
-
Single CLA
taking back contributor licensing for developers
-
SaaS Compliance Caveats
view page source ain’t what it used to be
-
Blue Oak Open Software Licensing Primer
Theory of Operation, updated and expanded
-
Not My Law
explainer page for cross-border legal help
-
Specifically Regulating Standardized Contracting
quick thoughts on the Consumer Review Fairness Act of 2016
-
All Heroes, No Casualties
where are our stories of tech folks done wrong?
-
The Kingsway Basic License
hip hop terms through a software lens
-
Hydrant Meter for the Homeless
a giant step forward for East Oakland Collective and EBMUD
-
Redlining in Microsoft Word 365
a step-by-step guide to comparing legal drafts
-
Square One Second Edition
improved US hiring forms and terms
-
GPL Had Better be a Contract
SFC’s Vizio suit brings the right kind of claim
-
PolyForm Commercial Does Individual Licenses Now
expanding standardization to single-user deals
-
Pinky Pressing Problem
discovering and addressing a lapse in typing technique
-
Signature Blocks 101
what goes where and why, in brief
-
L. Peter Deutsch and Stig Hackvän
cooperation, licensing, and money in 1998
-
Time Off Summer ’21
out of office August 29 through September 8
-
Help Fund Water for the Homeless
legal access to public water for the East Bay’s unhoused
-
Upgrading to Debian Bullseye
a couple hurdles jumped
-
Contract by E-Mail
contract power is in your hands
-
The Developer Certificate of Origin is Not a Contributor License Agreement
dispelling magical DCO thinking to reveal the system below
-
Standardize Commercial Software Licensing
announcing PolyForm Commercial, with a call for help
-
License Round-Up
listing licenses I’ve contributed to
-
Waypoint NDA 3.0.0
small terms fixes, big presentation improvements
-
In Praise of Cron
seventies-era automation for the working lawyer
-
Big Time Public License 1.0.0
a FRAND-ly license for software
-
Legal Explainer Sites
one-page URLs for common concepts and conundrums
-
2020 Oakland Homeless Camp Fires
data from public records request
-
Creative Commons’ 2021-2025 Strategy
a scene stalwart turns “ethical”
-
The Guestbook NDA
a standard one-way nondisclosure agreement
-
2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report
bold text from the key findings
-
One-Way NDA
good names for the next standard NDA?
-
Citation Hustle
hooking into academe for fair code credit
-
Drafter’s Anxiety
writing new licenses isn’t scary
-
The Luck of Open Source
open source without great men
-
Legal Technology as Regulatory Arbitrage
a countervailing force toward specialization
-
Efficient Merit Apocalypse
a mirror on meritocracy
-
Sell Babel 8
ask for the money you need so people can actually pay it
-
Law Insider’s Contract Teardowns
lawyers dissect specific contract language
-
Days of Pain
returning from a double bout of nerve pain
-
Open Gaming Deja Vu
a clear-eyed view of open from 1999
-
First-Rate Intelligence
false comfort in U.S. military spending
-
Support Funding for Cali County Law Libraries
they’re even more important during pandemic
-
You Can Still Use the Software
Justin Colannino on what’s up with new software licenses
-
Zebra G-750 First Look
a long-awaited pen arrives on US shores
-
Flat Forms
plain language should come in plain pieces
-
Templating for Lawyers
learn computer templateering in five minutes flat
-
Seven Ways to Say “Inequality”
a short study in the rhetoric of policy
-
It’s a Trap
avoid legal structures designed to constrain you
-
The Origin of the “MIT License”
how did those famous terms come about?
-
Cross License Foundations
decentralized stewardship of collaborative projects
-
Code Credit License 1.0.0
a code-for-credit software license
-
Open Licensing Attacks on Specific Business Models
an incomplete list
-
Compliance Industrial Pulpit
someone tell the enterprise about Open Source 2.0
-
Where are the Goalposts?
in response to Luis Villa on SSPL and OSI
-
The Chalkeaters’ License
effective folk licensing in the wild
-
Waypoint Turns Two
stop wasting time on nondisclosure agreements
-
Platform Neutrality
we used to have a principle for this
-
Square One
fair terms. free forms. back to work.
-
Reading AGPL
a guided introduction for first-timers
-
Open Source is Discrimination
that’s the point, or at least it used to be
-
Righteous, Expedient, Wrong
OSI swings at Elastic, misses, and leaves a mess
-
Water Manifolds
hydrant-based access for the homeless of the Tenderloin
-
ml5.js Takes a Stand
a code of conduct with teeth, in the wild
-
We Are All Internet Realists Now
web exceptionalism swings both ways
-
Fake Neutrality
have it your way ‘til they can afford to have it theirs
-
The Tension
panning for hope in a very angry America
-
Printing Booklets
less paper, easier reading
-
No War on Coronavirus
remembering the other way to see our problems
-
Lies My Law School Told Me
in praise of bad propaganda
-
Don’t Pitch Lawyers
pitch clients
-
Deprogramming the Programmer
throw off your jargon and be free
-
Authority and Expertise
digging up the land mines of attorney-client relations
-
Survive America
prepping for the obvious
-
The Future of the Internet
thanks for letting us know
-
The War on License Notices
managing uncertainty at the fringes of open licensing
-
Don’t Sign Blank Checks
a problem of pattern recognition
-
Judicial Website, No Money Down
sustainability, government style
-
Water Team on The Oaklandside
local news org covers water access proposals
-
Electric, Light, Organized
flameless light and power stopgaps for the homeless
-
EBMUD for All
open letter for homeless access to water
-
Work Made for Hire … or Not
one source of complexity in intellectual property terms
-
Let’s Not All Read Terms of Service
common quips on website terms miss the point
-
You Have to Build a Time Machine
Eventbrite falls into the terms of service trap
-
How Congress Sees Open Source
a view from outside
-
Signing by E-Mail
a writing is a writing is a writing
-
Speedier Git for Text File Tracking
streamlining for small, fast commits to personal records
-
Doormat 1e
free no-log, no-track privacy policy
-
DMCASimple 1e
another new first edition and website
-
Turnstile 1e
first edition and new website
-
Copyright Notices Begone
pointless costs of ancient licenses
-
From Justice With Love
the antitrust division groks open source strategy
-
Communes to Cooperatives
musings of a Drop City scholar
-
Public Domain Appendix
public license for From Dictatorship to Democracy
-
Mix Many Metaphors
analogies galore in Oracle v. Google oral argument
-
Oracle v. Google Oral Argument
major league copyright lawyering at bat
-
The Ethical Consequences of Our Collective Activities
professional ethics as the missing root of entitlement?
-
California Welfare and Institutions Code 17000
on the books since 1965
-
Son of Water Boy
latest lessons and tips
-
Security Services Terms
giving a specialized field its due
-
Types of Lawyers
major food groups for clients
-
Amateur Open Econ Toolkit
compendium of concepts, theories, and theorists
-
Not the Type
tech exceptionalism in limp words and phrases
-
Working in Public
now comes the coder-celebrity
-
Connecticut’s Police Bill
first-read highlights
-
Water Boy
working up a playbook for supplying urban campers
-
A Modest Trademark Proposal
banish them from permissive open source
-
In Praise of Juanito Rus
recognizing professionalism in local public service
-
Colorado’s Police Reform Law
first-read highlights
-
Expert Failure
lawyers learning from scientists
-
Programmer Power
prying open “software freedom”
-
Threat Rhetoric
narrative error in policing
-
Police Qualified Immunity Reading
recommended overview and primary sources
-
No Justice
facing the mirror in a time of inequality
-
PolyForm Defensive is Now PolyForm Shield
feedback strikes again
-
Anything to Everyone
“defund the police” through the lens of “open source”
-
Narrative Error
that’s my hero story, and I’m sticking to it
-
Acceptable Use
different delivery, same rules
-
Facing the Choir
reading and hearing American police unions
-
Free & Open Picture Book
a conundrum in four panels
-
Normally Open & Normally Closed
simple templates for restricted terms
-
Oakland Police Commission
money, gas, rubber, and “fuck”
-
DMSimple
plain and simple DMCA safe harbor terms
-
The March in Oakland
a flyover, firsthand account of rally and march
-
Round Robin 1.0.0
ready for the field
-
Round Robin License
new name, new terms, same great idea
-
Protestant Work Product
recognizing overwork in the field
-
Turnstile
springboard website terms of service
-
Progressive Standardization
standardized contracting can also be flexible
-
PolyForm Noncompete Licenses
two new, long-awaited forms
-
Springboard Agreements
putting a name to a tool
-
Lawyerization
vocabulary for lawyer involvement and influence
-
“Open Source” Is Nobody’s Property
if OSI owned it, they wouldn’t be so touchy about it
-
Two Tiny Web Apps
long-serving micro-groupware
-
Name this Contract Type
agreements incorporating all their terms by reference
-
Allowable Tolerances
law can learn a lot from the trades
-
Antidote
critical and alternative views on free and open source software
-
Pay-Per-Law, Inc.
the glory and agony of Georgia v. Public Resource
-
Neighbor Meals
ground game for safer group takeout
-
redline.commonform.org
compare Common Form markup online
-
Common-Pool Pushovers
Elinor Ostrom without boundaries
-
edit.commonform.org
try Common Form’s editing tools online
-
Common Form, Simplified
publish, share, save our souls
-
Locked-In Customers Anonymous
stop buying software from assholes
-
No Thanks
software freedom without programmers
-
Site of Shame
if you can’t negotiate, castigate?
-
The Tote Bag
remembering the Great Recession
-
Do Not Track or Do Not Sell
conflict or convenience?
-
Open COVID Pledge
public licensing for pandemic response
-
Noncompete By Two Other Names
Why are the last PolyForm licenses taking so long?
-
Sharetribe Community Public License 1.0, Line by Line
another everything-but-SaaS license
-
Intelligent Perception
low bow to the legal laity
-
Take the Money and Run
if you’re not hurting, try helping
-
CERN OHL-S 2.0, Line by Line
the open share-alike hardware license we actually need now?
-
Section 1106 (Loan Forgiveness) of the CARES Act
formatted, linked, and linkable
-
Medtronic’s PB560 Ventilator License, Line by Line
medical device company devises copyleft license
-
Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment
Californians probably can’t do advance directives right now, but that’s likely not what they need
-
Against Legal Technology
beyond the latest office software
-
Open Source for Business 3e
new edition of an oft-recommended book
-
Subscribe by E-Mail
another way to see new posts
-
Sustain Podcast
business models, licenses, role playing
-
Not Those Dreams
Nintendo purges Mario from Dreams
-
California Medical Directives at Home
Can we get our end-of-life wishes down without breaking health orders?
-
Medical Advance Directives Working Group
looking for lawyers, translators, and editors
-
notlegaladvice.law
shareable explainer page
-
Blue Is Blue
a strange thing about learned language
-
World Tour Canceled
mouse best plans, but what ado now?
-
Name Calling Isn’t Precise
“neo-closed” will come and go
-
Terms of Service, Take Two
shorter, higher-level, more fun
-
Foreign Virus
another good excuse to order in Chinese
-
Terms of Service, Take One
reviewing the terms you’ve already agreed to
-
Copyleft Has No Posse
war is over, want it or not
-
Short Spiel on Legal Tech
law’s retrograde rep is more about tech than law
-
Dreams Creates a Commons?
a video game for making video games
-
Not Not Political
if software matters, it’s already political
-
This Mess We’re In
ethics, open source, and free riding
-
Skimming Hippocratic License Version 2.0
text and quick thoughts
-
Untangling Tech Merit and Tech Privilege
section 230 is but one kind of subsidy
-
More Accessible
small tweaks to better accommodate readers
-
Data Under Universal Share-Alike
limits on effective data copyleft
-
Reduce, Reuse, Reconsider
if you wish to make a great hacker from scratch, let them reimplement the universe
-
Patent Potato
the game that never ends
-
Scratch Other People’s Itches
achieve more meaning and feel less alone
-
Copyleft Should be Scary
if the virus wasn’t scary, would we wash out hands?
-
Portland Trip Confirmed
February 23 to February 29
-
Open Source Should Come With Warranties
(from the companies who use it)
-
CCPA Service Provider Addendum
plain, minimal form
-
What did I just agree to?
Marc Jones on oddities in OSI-approved licenses
-
Luis Villa’s Licensing Year in Review
harassment made the list, and should have
-
Portland in February
See you there?
-
Few-Maintainer Projects
reality-driven expectations
-
Renaming API Copyleft
naming for purpose, not implementation
-
Starting Noncommercial
famous projects that started noncommercial
-
API Copyleft 2.0.0-pre.1
bringing the best of Parity to API Copyleft
-
Video Footnotes
one-way video as hackable interactive medium
-
The Main Event
Amazon versus Startups and the New York Times
-
The Doorway NDA
lawyers earning their stereotypes
-
Paste Your Terms Into Your E-Mails
why don’t we do the obvious thing?
-
Teach Everyone to Be Like Us
Moxie Marlinspike, wiser than he may have known
-
git push is the Process
permissionless license development now
-
Big Time Public License
a noncommercial, small-biz license with a big-biz fair terms guarantee
-
Rakow 2019
score one, illegal art people
-
Correct and Intuitive Fairness
How can a license say what “fair” is ahead of time?
-
I Am Not Advising Legally
smart people don’t understand lawyers’ disclaimers
-
A Fistful of Services
my go-to web applications and utilities
-
TNR12 and Be There
learning from others
-
npm fund
new subcommand and metadata standard
-
Talking Points: Ethical Licenses
collecting points and counterpoints
-
Reading the WeAllJS Code of Conduct
line-by-line and off-the-cuff
-
XML versus JSON
key quote form a great paper
-
Universal Share-Alike License
copyleft across different kinds of work
-
Venture Capital Shill
scapegoating free software’s failures
-
Nomadic Lawyering
office out, travel in?
-
MulanPSL
a new riff on the Apache patent bargain from China
-
Heather Meeker on “Ethos Licensing”
free and open is ethos licensing, too
-
“BSD with PATENTS” and “BSD-2-Clause Plus Patent” are Not the Same
similar licenses, very different receptions
-
Love this License
law brut with ASCII art
-
Blue Oak Guide to Copyleft
short introduction and license families
-
Waypoint Trademark
protecting the integrity of a standard form
-
CASE Act Flythrough
notes from a quick read of H.R. 2426
-
Blue Oak Test Suite
test cases for new public licenses
-
Blue Oak Reading List
reading list for lawyers new to open source
-
XLC Building Blocks
essential concepts and vocabulary for cross-license collaboratives
-
Cross-License Collaboratives
decentralizing contributor license agreements
-
Standards, Patents, Open Source
towards constructive collaboration across practice communities
-
Blue Oak Guidance on Mergers and Acquisitions
please stop paying me so much to fix reps and warranties
-
No LICENSE
they won’t see your funding plea if they never look
-
Our Ethics, Not Yours
in defense of Seth Vargo and morality-first licenses
-
The Tyranny of Time
licensing gives developers much-needed flexibility
-
Open Core is Not a Good Story
three better ways to express yourself and your company
-
Open Legal Podcast?
considering an open legal podcast
-
Is this conference a good idea?
forthcoming talk at a conference
-
The Great Open Source Shake-Up
more mandatory reading from Kate Downing
-
Here Comes the CCPA
my annotated copy of the statute
-
Waypoint 2.0.0
a more adaptable, international standard
-
Changeblog
a few thoughts on a friend’s podcast appearance
-
Require Credit For Your Software
a general-purpose legal tool to require credit for open work
-
Waypoint Abroad
seeking quick reads from non-US counsel
-
PANDA for Privacy
the NDA for your personal information
-
PolyForm 1.0.0
standard noncommercial software licenses at last
-
Heather Meeker on Patent Risk Allocation
unique compilation of arguments and dynamics
-
Get In, Get Out
open source advice for new programmers breaking into the industry
-
Help Take the Waypoint NDA International
a call for help from common-law colleagues
-
Open Letters
a snail mail experiment
-
A Twit No More
farewell, Twitter
-
Dark Arts at Daybreak
the end of club rule in open source law
-
Operating Environment
essential industry background for reading open software licenses
-
SSPL Was Not Commons Clause
how open licensing blew its biggest opportunity of the 2010s
-
PolyForm Project
simple, standard, plain-language software licenses
-
Mortarboard Licenses
graduate to new public license terms
-
Schools of Cohesion
exploring the crosswise policy biases we learn from open software
-
Prone Blogging Setup
how to type when the pain puts you on your back
-
Tyranny of Permissionlessness
open source’s narrow focus further empowers those with other ways to exclude
-
Don’t Rely on OSI Approval
activist approval does not track practical needs
-
AFL-3.0 versus OSL-3.0
a redline (diff) with important network terms highlighted
-
The Waypoint NDA
stop wasting time on NDAs
-
#wontfix
endorsements can’t fix the Open Source Definition
-
Calls to Sustainability Action via package.json
a new proposal, schema, and tools
-
Enterprise Ready Open Software License Supplement
the status quo, plus money for devs
-
Stairway to Heaven
repairing broken steps to software license Nirvana
-
The Diachronic Treadmill License
automatically reward supporters with copyleft exceptions
-
License Utopia
just four licenses for all of open source
-
Ethical Subcommons Starter Kit
bringing openness to software of moral concern
-
Weak or Strong is Wrong
towards selective or consistent copyleft
-
Deprecation Notice: MIT and BSD
it’s time to retire thirty-year-old academic licenses
-
Blue Oak Council
opening the software commons to everyone
-
Back to IP
the copyright giant has a policy
-
Indie Open Source
developing resource for indie-ready business models
-
Open Source Software License Reading List
a comprehensive curriculum for new license wonks
-
First Thoughts on the Redis Source Available License Agreement
evident demand for license rules on API boundaries
-
API Copyleft License 1.0.0
first release of API-boundary copyleft form
-
API Copyleft
functionality, interfaces, and line drawing in a new copyleft paradigm
-
Critique This License
developing a standard paid-software license
-
Shared Component License
first shot at a short, plain license in the vein of Mongo’s SSPL
-
Outer Source
open software by closed methods
-
The Discipline of Stated Purpose
write out the purposes of legal terms in contracts
-
Availability Dashboard
professional availability now online
-
Apache-2.0 versus ECL-2.0
a redline (diff) showing substantive changes
-
Open Source is Not About You
a minimal, functionalist view of open source
-
Open Handicaps
Did permissive used to advantage open work like copyleft does today?
-
Selective Openness
making money by choosing what to give away
-
The Open Source Definition as Copyleft Regulation
an in-depth review of commonly cited criteria
-
The Copyleft Bust Up
loopholes, licenses, and realpolitik in open source
-
How to Speak Copyleft
the missing vocabulary of copyleft design
-
Elsewhere: Mapping Open Business Models
crosspost from the License Zero blog
-
Seeking Comment: Copyright Notice Recommendation
first stab at a pragmatic best-practice guide
-
A Canting Tribe Are We
attacking the NDA problem with standards networks
-
Indirect Licensing
dispensing software licenses in the Internet era
-
Contributor Councils
relicensing without foundation, BDFL, or unanimity
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Motorcycles in the Wind
do not do or die
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Patents for Software Freedom
gun-shy insurgents and the heavy weapons of IP law
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Bilking Angels
celestial finance for earth-bound developers
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Crowd Hiring
assurance contracts for short-term open software maintenance
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Quick Read of Tidelift’s Lifting Agreement
nits picked in the developer terms for a new pay-the-devs company
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Private Changes in Free Software Copyleft Licenses
Where’s the fifth freedom?
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Enforce Open Source Licenses with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
takedown power for DIY developers
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Unhappy Coincidences
marriages of licensing convenience, and changed circumstances
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Selective Mythology
defining open source for fun and profit, in the shadow of the enterprise
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Attending LegalHackers Summit
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The Decentralization Game
tips for values-forward reformers
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The Posterity Public License
a strong-attribution open source license
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Interviewed on Open Source and Money
TechCrunch article on problems and solutions
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Digging Contracts Out of the Hole
simple tools for drafting to be proud of
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California Work Made for Hire Statutes
work made for hire contracts can make contractors employees for state employment insurance purposes
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Plain GDPR Processor Addendum
open form plain-language processor addendum
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Plain Terms of Service
open form terms of service for websites
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Proseline
peer to peer prose editing
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Six Great Deals Books
read these books
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Public Domain Chronicle
a fast, easy, and free way to secure scientific methods and findings for the public domain
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Help Wanted
kinds of help I could use
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Transparent Contract Components
sharper tools, finer toolmarks
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MPL-2.0 versus OPL-2.1
a redline (diff) showing changes
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Lexical Scope for Contracts
wandering ever closer to LISP
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I Have Another Blog
you may want to subscribe on License Zero, too
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Licence Libre du Québec – Réciprocité versus - Réciprocité forte
a redline (diff) showing changes
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CLAs are Not a Sham
licensing with friends, improved and improving
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The Well Appointed Skinner Box
farewell, Medium
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Contract Components
fine-grained means of abstraction in legal drafting
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Debian Free Software Guidelines versus the Open Source Definition
a redline (diff) showing changes
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Mercenary Rapport
moral blindness in open source on social media
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Unsustainability at Scale
today’s tools for yesterday’s problems tomorrow
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Feed this Bear
indie coder, promote thyself!
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Overkill
doing IP law wrong, and getting away with it
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The License Zero Manifesto
sustainable software in the open
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Prescription Contracts
thinking about direct lawyer guidance on rxnda.com
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Null Value
against demise of the hacker public license
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Nobody’s Clients
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RxNDA.com
breaking the NDA logjam
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Seven Takeaways from the SEC DAO Report
reading the tea leaves of the Commission’s first major ICO report
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Switchmode Developer Agreement
an open form contract for open source contractors
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Open Software Service Terms
legal terms for paid web apps, now available in the English language
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It’s Not About Community
another view of Open Source
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Open Source: Theory of Operation
a short, practical guide to open source software for programmers at work
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Debian 8.7 on Dell Optiplex 7010
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Open Source License Business Perception Report
the pain and confusion of common open licenses, roughly quantified
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Against Legislating the Nonobvious
short-order feedback on the default contributor license in GitHub’s draft terms of service
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The Mendicant Maintainerati
no holy fools for Open Source
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The MIT License, Line by Line
171 words every programmer should understand
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The Earl of Ethereum’s Case
Who keeps a blockchain’s conscience?
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Deal Mechanic
The writing on the door.
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Emancipation by Reference
I am just a copy of a copy of a copy. Everything I say you have read before.
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Node.js Streams
fundamental abstractions reviewed and revisited
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IP Field Guide
publicly licensed, publicly available intro for non-lawyers
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The JavaScript Joke Was on Me
or, a few things learned the hard way
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Circulation Policy
Confidentiality rules and procedures for the great Common Form library in the sky
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Annotations in Context
A first attempt at useful, responsible Common Form annotations
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I Don’t Want to Know What “Open Source” Means
I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all on GitHub.
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License from Who?
Safe open-source licensing means more than a LICENSE file.
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The Triplebyte Plan
The tangled web of one start-up equity plan
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The Berneout Pledge
Sucks less than CLAs!
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First Read: The Fair Source License
Text and my first thoughts on a new, non-open source form license
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I’ll Never Be a Super Lawyer
In feigned ignorance there is no grace.
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Startup Unix
An open legal operating system for start-up technology companies
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What Enumeration Means
Enumeration is an essential contract drafting tool. Don’t disclaim it!
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Template Ambiguity
Document assembly can make ambiguity even harder to spot.
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The Blanks Problem
A tough Common Form design decision explained.
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Term Injection
Fighting insertion of unexpected terms in automated form contracts
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React Patent Redline
Changes to Facebook’s patent grant for React, Flux, Immutable, &c.
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Certificated Assent
How signed is signed enough for a hosted software licensing deal?
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Hacking Common Form
Overview of existing Common Form software for programmers
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Terms of Service; Already Read
Verifiable contracts should help consumers, too.
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Reproduction of Hierarchy
Markdown isn’t great for contracts. HTML5 is better.
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Index Card Contracts
Common Form for paper people
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Grab-Bag Contracts
Might we write contracts like we fill shopping bags at the grocery store?
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Named Provisions
If contract section numbers are just another namespace, can they be replaced with defined terms?
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vesting.js
From code to law and back again
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Blind Patches
What if open-source contributors could submit patches anonymously and choose to claim credit later?
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Modularity is not the Law
Ancient and modern principles of contract interpretation work against contracts made of modular parts
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The Halliburton Hypothesis
Quantifying the negotiating process to mount attacks on the confidentiality of a public contract forms repository
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Value Statement
as found at the feet of my bills
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FTC 2014 Year in Review
What do the FTC’s 2014 privacy and security enforcement actions teach tech companies?
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Common Form
Composable, verifiable, shareable form contracts for the modern practice of law
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deflect.js
An ECMAScript module fusing Node.js error-first convention with continuation passing style, plus a twist to make composed stacks of asynchronous functions dynamic
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Deep Data Privacy Risk
Cheap storage technology isn’t just changing what information we store; it’s also changing how we store familiar kinds of information. Both developments have implications for privacy.