Does this BSD-like license achieve what I want it to?

Posted by Joseph Szymborski on Programmers See other posts from Programmers or by Joseph Szymborski
Published on 2012-07-14T23:02:07Z Indexed on 2012/09/04 15:52 UTC
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I was wondering if this license is:

  • self defeating
  • just a clone of an existing, better established license
  • practical
  • any more "corporate-friendly" than the GPL
  • too vague/open ended

and finally, if there is a better license that achieves a similar effect?

I wanted a license that would (in simple terms)

  • be as flexible/simple as the "Simplified BSD" license (which is essentially the MIT license)
  • allow anyone to make modifications as long as I'm attributed
  • require that I get a notification that such a derived work exists
  • require that I have access to the source code and be given license to use the code
  • not oblige the author of the derivative work to have to release the source code to the general public
  • not oblige the author of the derivative work to license the derivative work under a specific license

Here is the proposed license, which is just the simplified BSD with a couple of additional clauses (all of which are bolded).

Copyright (c) (year), (author) (email)

All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

  1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
  2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
  3. The copyright holder(s) must be notified of any redistributions of source code.
  4. The copyright holder(s) must be notified of any redistributions in binary form
  5. The copyright holder(s) must be granted access to the source code and/or the binary form of any redistribution upon the copyright holder's request.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

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