-
08 July 2020
Colorado’s Police Reform Law
first-read highlights
-
08 July 2020
Expert Failure
lawyers learning from scientists
-
03 July 2020
Programmer Power
prying open “software freedom”
-
24 June 2020
Threat Rhetoric
narrative error in policing
-
20 June 2020
Police Qualified Immunity Reading
recommended overview and primary sources
-
17 June 2020
No Justice
facing the mirror in a time of inequality
-
16 June 2020
PolyForm Defensive is Now PolyForm Shield
feedback strikes again
-
12 June 2020
Anything to Everyone
“defund the police” through the lens of “open source”
-
11 June 2020
Narrative Error
that’s my hero story, and I’m sticking to it
-
11 June 2020
Acceptable Use
different delivery, same rules
-
10 June 2020
Facing the Choir
reading and hearing American police unions
-
10 June 2020
Free & Open Picture Book
a conundrum in four panels
-
09 June 2020
Normally Open & Normally Closed
simple templates for restricted terms
-
09 June 2020
Oakland Police Commission
money, gas, rubber, and “fuck”
-
07 June 2020
DMSimple
plain and simple DMCA safe harbor terms
-
04 June 2020
The March in Oakland
a flyover, firsthand account of rally and march
-
01 June 2020
Round Robin 1.0.0
ready for the field
-
26 May 2020
Round Robin License
new name, new terms, same great idea
-
25 May 2020
Protestant Work Product
recognizing overwork in the field
-
17 May 2020
Turnstile
springboard website terms of service
-
16 May 2020
Progressive Standardization
standarized contracting can also be flexible
-
14 May 2020
PolyForm Noncompete Licenses
two new, long-awaited forms
-
13 May 2020
Springboard Agreements
putting a name to a tool
-
12 May 2020
Lawyerization
vocabulary for lawyer involvement and influence
-
11 May 2020
“Open Source” Is Nobody’s Property
if OSI owned it, they wouldn’t be so touchy about it
-
08 May 2020
Two Tiny Web Apps
long-serving micro-groupware
-
07 May 2020
Name this Contract Type
agreements incorporating all their terms by reference
-
05 May 2020
Allowable Tolerances
law can learn a lot from the trades
-
02 May 2020
Antidote
critical and alternative views on free and open source software
-
28 April 2020
Pay-Per-Law, Inc.
the glory and agony of Georgia v. Public Resource
-
24 April 2020
Neighbor Meals
ground game for safer group takeout
-
22 April 2020
redline.commonform.org
compare Common Form markup online
-
20 April 2020
Common-Pool Pushovers
Elinor Ostrom without boundaries
-
19 April 2020
edit.commonform.org
try Common Form’s editing tools online
-
18 April 2020
Common Form, Simplified
publish, share, save our souls
-
17 April 2020
Locked-In Customers Anonymous
stop buying software from assholes
-
17 April 2020
No Thanks
software freedom without programmers
-
17 April 2020
Site of Shame
if you can’t negotiate, castigate?
-
16 April 2020
The Tote Bag
remembering the Great Recession
-
10 April 2020
Do Not Track or Do Not Sell
conflict or convenience?
-
07 April 2020
Open COVID Pledge
public licensing for pandemic response
-
04 April 2020
Noncompete By Two Other Names
Why are the last PolyForm licenses taking so long?
-
04 April 2020
Sharetribe Community Public License 1.0, Line by Line
another everything-but-SaaS license
-
04 April 2020
Intelligent Perception
low bow to the legal laity
-
02 April 2020
Take the Money and Run
if you’re not hurting, try helping
-
01 April 2020
CERN OHL-S 2.0, Line by Line
the open share-alike hardware license we actually need now?
-
31 March 2020
Section 1106 (Loan Forgiveness) of the CARES Act
formatted, linked, and linkable
-
31 March 2020
Medtronic’s PB560 Ventilator License, Line by Line
medical device company devises copyleft license
-
30 March 2020
Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment
Californians probably can’t do advance directives right now, but that’s likely not what they need
-
29 March 2020
Against Legal Technology
beyond the latest office software
-
28 March 2020
Open Source for Business 3e
new edition of an oft-recommended book
-
28 March 2020
Subscribe by E-Mail
another way to see new posts
-
27 March 2020
Sustain Podcast
business models, licenses, role playing
-
24 March 2020
Not Those Dreams
Nintendo purges Mario from Dreams
-
24 March 2020
California Medical Directives at Home
Can we get our end-of-life wishes down without breaking health orders?
-
22 March 2020
Medical Advance Directives Working Group
looking for lawyers, translators, and editors
-
22 March 2020
notlegaladvice.law
shareable explainer page
-
20 March 2020
Blue Is Blue
a strange thing about learned language
-
14 March 2020
World Tour Canceled
mouse best plans, but what ado now?
-
12 March 2020
Name Calling Isn’t Precise
“neo-closed” will come and go
-
11 March 2020
Terms of Service, Take Two
shorter, higher-level, more fun
-
09 March 2020
Foreign Virus
another good excuse to order in Chinese
-
09 March 2020
Terms of Service, Take One
reviewing the terms you’ve already agreed to
-
07 March 2020
Copyleft Has No Posse
war is over, want it or not
-
04 March 2020
Short Spiel on Legal Tech
law’s retrograde rep is more about tech than law
-
04 March 2020
Dreams Creates a Commons?
a video game for making video games
-
03 March 2020
Not Not Political
if software matters, it’s already political
-
27 February 2020
This Mess We’re In
ethics, open source, and free riding
-
22 February 2020
Skimming Hippocratic License Version 2.0
text and quick thoughts
-
19 February 2020
Untangling Tech Merit and Tech Privilege
section 230 is but one kind of subsidy
-
12 February 2020
More Accessible
small tweaks to better accommodate readers
-
10 February 2020
Data Under Universal Share-Alike
limits on effective data copyleft
-
09 February 2020
Reduce, Reuse, Reconsider
if you wish to make a great hacker from scratch, let them reimplement the universe
-
04 February 2020
Patent Potato
the game that never ends
-
03 February 2020
Scratch Other People’s Itches
achieve more meaning and feel less alone
-
02 February 2020
Copyleft Should be Scary
if the virus wasn’t scary, would we wash out hands?
-
02 February 2020
Portland Trip Confirmed
February 23 to February 29
-
27 January 2020
Open Source Should Come With Warranties
(from the companies who use it)
-
27 January 2020
CCPA Service Provider Addendum
plain, minimal form
-
23 January 2020
What did I just agree to?
Marc Jones on oddities in OSI-approved licenses
-
23 January 2020
Luis Villa’s Licensing Year in Review
harassment made the list, and should have
-
21 January 2020
Portland in February
See you there?
-
14 January 2020
Few-Maintainer Projects
reality-driven expectations
-
13 January 2020
Renaming API Copyleft
naming for purpose, not implementation
-
09 January 2020
Starting Noncommercial
famous projects that started noncommercial
-
07 January 2020
API Copyleft 2.0.0-pre.1
bringing the best of Parity to API Copyleft
-
17 December 2019
Video Footnotes
one-way video as hackable interactive medium
-
16 December 2019
The Main Event
Amazon versus Startups and the New York Times
-
11 December 2019
The Doorway NDA
lawyers earning their stereotypes
-
09 December 2019
Paste Your Terms Into Your E-Mails
why don’t we do the obvious thing?
-
08 December 2019
Teach Everyone to Be Like Us
Moxie Marlinspike, wiser than he may have known
-
07 December 2019
git push is the Process
permissionless license development now
-
06 December 2019
Big Time Public License
a noncommercial, small-biz license with a big-biz fair terms guarantee
-
05 December 2019
Rakow 2019
score one, illegal art people
-
02 December 2019
Correct and Intuitive Fairness
How can a license say what “fair” is ahead of time?
-
30 November 2019
I Am Not Advising Legally
smart people don’t understand lawyers’ disclaimers
-
29 November 2019
A Fistful of Services
my go-to web applications and utilities
-
27 November 2019
TNR12 and Be There
learning from others
-
26 November 2019
npm fund
new subcommand and metadata standard
-
24 November 2019
Talking Points: Ethical Licenses
collecting points and counterpoints
-
23 November 2019
Reading the WeAllJS Code of Conduct
line-by-line and off-the-cuff
-
22 November 2019
XML versus JSON
key quote form a great paper
-
22 November 2019
Universal Share-Alike License
copyleft across different kinds of work
-
17 November 2019
Venture Capital Shill
scapegoating free software’s failures
-
13 November 2019
Nomadic Lawyering
office out, travel in?
-
10 November 2019
MulanPSL
a new riff on the Apache patent bargain from China
-
09 November 2019
Heather Meeker on “Ethos Licensing”
free and open is ethos licensing, too
-
07 November 2019
“BSD with PATENTS” and “BSD-2-Clause Plus Patent” are Not the Same
similar licenses, very different receptions
-
06 November 2019
Love this License
law brut with ASCII art
-
04 November 2019
Blue Oak Guide to Copyleft
short introduction and license families
-
04 November 2019
Waypoint Trademark
protecting the integrity of a standard form
-
22 October 2019
CASE Act Flythrough
notes from a quick read of H.R. 2426
-
16 October 2019
Blue Oak Test Suite
test cases for new public licenses
-
16 October 2019
Blue Oak Reading List
reading list for lawyers new to open source
-
12 October 2019
XLC Building Blocks
essential concepts and vocabulary for cross-license collaboratives
-
05 October 2019
Cross-License Collaboratives
decentralizing contributor license agreements
-
03 October 2019
Standards, Patents, Open Source
towards constructive collaboration across practice communities
-
03 October 2019
Blue Oak Guidance on Mergers and Acquisitions
please stop paying me so much to fix reps and warranties
-
28 September 2019
No LICENSE
they won’t see your funding plea if they never look
-
28 September 2019
Our Ethics, Not Yours
in defense of Seth Vargo and morality-first licenses
-
26 September 2019
The Tyranny of Time
licensing gives developers much-needed flexibility
-
25 September 2019
Open Core is Not a Good Story
three better ways to express yourself and your company
-
10 September 2019
Open Legal Podcast?
considering an open legal podcast
-
09 September 2019
Is this conference a good idea?
forthcoming talk at a conference
-
09 September 2019
The Great Open Source Shake-Up
more mandatory reading from Kate Downing
-
09 September 2019
Here Comes the CCPA
my annotated copy of the statute
-
09 September 2019
Waypoint 2.0.0
a more adaptable, international standard
-
05 September 2019
Changeblog
a few thoughts on a friend’s podcast appearance
-
15 August 2019
Require Credit For Your Software
a general-purpose legal tool to require credit for open work
-
17 July 2019
Waypoint Abroad
seeking quick reads from non-US counsel
-
14 July 2019
PANDA for Privacy
the NDA for your personal information
-
12 July 2019
PolyForm 1.0.0
standard noncommercial software licenses at last
-
27 June 2019
Heather Meeker on Patent Risk Allocation
unique compilation of arguments and dynamics
-
25 June 2019
Get In, Get Out
open source advice for new programmers breaking into the industry
-
24 June 2019
Help Take the Waypoint NDA International
a call for help from common-law colleagues
-
24 June 2019
Open Letters
a snail mail experiment
-
20 June 2019
A Twit No More
farewell, Twitter
-
17 June 2019
Dark Arts at Daybreak
the end of club rule in open source law
-
15 June 2019
Operating Environment
essential industry background for reading open software licenses
-
13 June 2019
SSPL Was Not Commons Clause
how open licensing blew its biggest opportunity of the 2010s
-
30 May 2019
PolyForm Project
simple, standard, plain-language software licenses
-
21 May 2019
Mortarboard Licenses
graduate to new public license terms
-
18 May 2019
Schools of Cohesion
exploring the crosswise policy biases we learn from open software
-
12 May 2019
Prone Blogging Setup
how to type when the pain puts you on your back
-
08 May 2019
Tyranny of Permissionlessness
open source’s narrow focus further empowers those with other ways to exclude
-
05 May 2019
Don’t Rely on OSI Approval
activist approval does not track practical needs
-
29 April 2019
AFL-3.0 versus OSL-3.0
a redline (diff) with important network terms highlighted
-
23 April 2019
The Waypoint NDA
stop wasting time on NDAs
-
23 April 2019
#wontfix
endorsements can’t fix the Open Source Definition
-
12 April 2019
Calls to Sustainability Action via package.json
a new proposal, schema, and tools
-
11 April 2019
Enterprise Ready Open Software License Supplement
the status quo, plus money for devs
-
06 April 2019
Stairway to Heaven
repairing broken steps to software license Nirvana
-
18 March 2019
The Diachronic Treadmill License
automatically reward supporters with copyleft exceptions
-
17 March 2019
License Utopia
just four licenses for all of open source
-
15 March 2019
Ethical Subcommons Starter Kit
bringing openness to software of moral concern
-
11 March 2019
Weak or Strong is Wrong
towards selective or consistent copyleft
-
09 March 2019
Deprecation Notice: MIT and BSD
it’s time to retire thirty-year-old academic licenses
-
07 March 2019
Blue Oak Council
opening the software commons to everyone
-
04 March 2019
Back to IP
the copyright giant has a policy
-
25 February 2019
Indie Open Source
developing resource for indie-ready business models
-
24 February 2019
Open Source Software License Reading List
a comprehensive curriculum for new license wonks
-
22 February 2019
First Thoughts on the Redis Source Available License Agreement
evident demand for license rules on API boundaries
-
22 February 2019
API Copyleft License 1.0.0
first release of API-boundary copyleft form
-
30 January 2019
API Copyleft
functionality, interfaces, and line drawing in a new copyleft paradigm
-
27 January 2019
Critique This License
developing a standard paid-software license
-
12 January 2019
Shared Component License
first shot at a short, plain license in the vein of Mongo’s SSPL
-
12 January 2019
Outer Source
open software by closed methods
-
10 January 2019
The Discipline of Stated Purpose
write out the purposes of legal terms in contracts
-
09 January 2019
Availability Dashboard
professional availability now online
-
18 December 2018
Apache-2.0 versus ECL-2.0
a redline (diff) showing substantive changes
-
05 December 2018
Open Source is Not About You
a minimal, functionalist view of open source
-
04 December 2018
Open Handicaps
Did permissive used to advantage open work like copyleft does today?
-
12 November 2018
Selective Openness
making money by choosing what to give away
-
05 November 2018
The Open Source Definition as Copyleft Regulation
an in-depth review of commonly cited criteria
-
04 November 2018
The Copyleft Bust Up
loopholes, licenses, and realpolitik in open source
-
24 October 2018
How to Speak Copyleft
the missing vocabulary of copyleft design
-
17 October 2018
Elsewhere: Mapping Open Business Models
crosspost from the License Zero blog
-
07 October 2018
Seeking Comment: Copyright Notice Recommendation
first stab at a pragmatic best-practice guide
-
07 October 2018
A Canting Tribe Are We
attacking the NDA problem with standards networks
-
01 October 2018
Indirect Licensing
dispensing software licenses in the Internet era
-
30 September 2018
Contributor Councils
relicensing without foundation, BDFL, or unanimity
-
24 September 2018
Motorcycles in the Wind
do not do or die
-
23 September 2018
Patents for Software Freedom
gun-shy insurgents and the heavy weapons of IP law
-
22 September 2018
Bilking Angels
celestial finance for earth-bound developers
-
21 September 2018
Crowd Hiring
assurance contracts for short-term open software maintenance
-
18 September 2018
Quick Read of Tidelift’s Lifting Agreement
nits picked in the developer terms for a new pay-the-devs company
-
17 September 2018
Private Changes in Free Software Copyleft Licenses
Where’s the fifth freedom?
-
02 September 2018
Enforce Open Source Licenses with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
takedown power for DIY developers
-
28 August 2018
Unhappy Coincidences
marriages of licensing convenience, and changed circumstances
-
23 August 2018
Selective Mythology
defining open source for fun and profit, in the shadow of the enterprise
-
20 August 2018
Attending LegalHackers Summit
-
14 August 2018
The Decentralization Game
tips for values-forward reformers
-
12 July 2018
The Posterity Public License
a strong-attribution open source license
-
23 June 2018
Interviewed on Open Source and Money
TechCrunch article on problems and solutions
-
14 June 2018
Digging Contracts Out of the Hole
simple tools for drafting to be proud of
-
31 May 2018
California Work Made for Hire Statutes
work made for hire contracts can make contractors employees for state employment insurance purposes
-
24 May 2018
Plain GDPR Processor Addendum
open form plain-language processor addendum
-
23 May 2018
Plain Terms of Service
open form terms of service for websites
-
06 March 2018
Proseline
peer to peer prose editing
-
19 January 2018
Six Great Deals Books
read these books
-
16 January 2018
Public Domain Chronicle
a fast, easy, and free way to secure scientific methods and findings for the public domain
-
16 January 2018
Help Wanted
kinds of help I could use
-
15 January 2018
Transparent Contract Components
sharper tools, finer toolmarks
-
15 January 2018
MPL-2.0 versus OPL-2.1
a redline (diff) showing changes
-
11 January 2018
Lexical Scope for Contracts
wandering ever closer to LISP
-
09 January 2018
I Have Another Blog
you may want to subscribe on License Zero, too
-
09 January 2018
Licence Libre du Québec – Réciprocité versus - Réciprocité forte
a redline (diff) showing changes
-
06 January 2018
CLAs are Not a Sham
licensing with friends, improved and improving
-
04 January 2018
The Well Appointed Skinner Box
farewell, Medium
-
29 December 2017
Contract Components
fine-grained means of abstraction in legal drafting
-
12 November 2017
Debian Free Software Guidelines versus the Open Source Definition
a redline (diff) showing changes
-
16 October 2017
Mercenary Rapport
moral blindness in open source as social media
-
15 October 2017
Unsustainability at Scale
today’s tools for yesterday’s problems tomorrow
-
09 October 2017
Feed this Bear
indie coder, promote thyself!
-
26 September 2017
Overkill
doing IP law wrong, and getting away with it
-
12 September 2017
The License Zero Manifesto
sustainable software in the open
-
01 September 2017
Prescription Contracts
thinking about direct lawyer guidance on rxnda.com
-
31 August 2017
Null Value
against demise of the hacker public license
-
27 August 2017
Nobody’s Clients
-
12 August 2017
RxNDA.com
breaking the NDA logjam
-
25 July 2017
Seven Takeaways from the SEC DAO Report
reading the tea leaves of the Commission’s first major ICO report
-
09 June 2017
Switchmode Developer Agreement
an open form contract for open source contractors
-
06 June 2017
Open Software Service Terms
legal terms for paid web apps, now available in the English language
-
04 June 2017
It’s Not About Community
another view of Open Source
-
26 May 2017
Open Source: Theory of Operation
a short, practical guide to open source software for programmers at work
-
24 April 2017
Debian 8.7 on Dell Optiplex 7010
-
29 March 2017
Open Source License Business Perception Report
the pain and confusion of common open licenses, roughly quantified
-
16 February 2017
Against Legislating the Nonobvious
short-order feedback on the default contributor license in GitHub’s draft terms of service
-
10 February 2017
The Mendicant Maintainerati
no holy fools for Open Source
-
21 September 2016
The MIT License, Line by Line
171 words every programmer should understand
-
18 September 2016
The Earl of Ethereum’s Case
Who keeps a blockchain’s conscience?
-
12 September 2016
Deal Mechanic
The writing on the door.
-
20 August 2016
Emancipation by Reference
I am just a copy of a copy of a copy. Everything I say you have read before.
-
19 August 2016
Node.js Streams
fundamental abstractions reviewed and revisited
-
08 August 2016
IP Field Guide
publicly licensed, publicly available intro for non-lawyers
-
26 July 2016
The JavaScript Joke Was on Me
or, a few things learned the hard way
-
19 June 2016
Circulation Policy
Confidentiality rules and procedures for the great Common Form library in the sky
-
28 May 2016
Annotations in Context
A first attempt at useful, responsible Common Form annotations
-
13 May 2016
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.
-
13 May 2016
License from Who?
Safe open-source licensing means more than a LICENSE file.
-
20 April 2016
The Triplebyte Plan
The tangled web of one start-up equity plan
-
18 April 2016
The Berneout Pledge
Sucks less than CLAs!
-
30 March 2016
First Read: The Fair Source License
Text and my first thoughts on a new, non-open source form license
-
28 February 2016
I’ll Never Be a Super Lawyer
In feigned ignorance there is no grace.
-
23 February 2016
Startup Unix
An open legal operating system for start-up technology companies
-
27 November 2015
What Enumeration Means
Enumeration is an essential contract drafting tool. Don’t disclaim it!
-
27 November 2015
Template Ambiguity
Document assembly can make ambiguity even harder to spot.
-
29 October 2015
The Blanks Problem
A tough Common Form design decision explained.
-
08 October 2015
Term Injection
Fighting insertion of unexpected terms in automated form contracts
-
25 September 2015
React Patent Redline
Changes to Facebook’s patent grant for React, Flux, Immutable, &c.
-
10 September 2015
Certificated Assent
How signed is signed enough for a hosted software licensing deal?
-
03 September 2015
Hacking Common Form
Overview of existing Common Form software for programmers
-
24 August 2015
Terms of Service; Already Read
Verifiable contracts should help consumers, too.
-
21 August 2015
Reproduction of Hierarchy
Markdown isn’t great for contracts. HTML5 is better.
-
15 August 2015
Index Card Contracts
Common Form for paper people
-
14 August 2015
Grab-Bag Contracts
Might we write contracts like we fill shopping bags at the grocery store?
-
01 August 2015
Named Provisions
If contract section numbers are just another namespace, can they be replaced with defined terms?
-
31 July 2015
vesting.js
From code to law and back again
-
22 May 2015
Blind Patches
What if open-source contributors could submit patches anonymously and choose to claim credit later?
-
18 May 2015
Modularity is not the Law
Ancient and modern principles of contract interpretation work against contracts made of modular parts
-
17 May 2015
The Halliburton Hypothesis
Quantifying the negotiating process to mount attacks on the confidentiality of a public contract forms repository
-
20 April 2015
Value Statement
as found at the feet of my bills
-
13 February 2015
FTC 2014 Year in Review
What do the FTC’s 2014 privacy and security enforcement actions teach tech companies?
-
09 February 2015
Common Form
Composable, verifiable, shareable form contracts for the modern practice of law
-
22 January 2015
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
-
23 October 2014
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.
/dev/lawyer
>> law, technology, and the space between
All content by Kyle E. Mitchell, who is not your lawyer.
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