Charityware/CSL

This is a proposal for a Charity Software License.

Intent of the license

This section is meant to clarify the spirit of the license.

The intent of the license is to offer an alternative to open source software as specified by the OSI open source definition. Software licensed under the CSL can be made available in source code but there is no obligation to do so. The software is made available with guarantees about the use of revenue generated by software sales. The license will include a list of trusted third parties, usually non-profit organizations, who can sell software licensed under the CSL. A group of authors cannot sell their own software under the CSL without first becoming a trusted reseller in the sense of the license. The rationale is that the CSL is intended as a unique selling point for software licensed under the CSL and arbitrary software authors are not expected to reliably handle the financial resources in the intent of the license. Thus the CSL can increase the trustworthiness of authors without any disadvantages for software authors who mean to take the CSL seriously. Trusted resellers in the sense of the license require external auditors, as, for instance, the Deutsche Zentralinstitut für soziale Fragen (dzi.de). A share of the generated revenue can, within predefined limits, be used to develop the software. The recipient of revenue shares is the maintainer. The maintainer can distribute funding, hire contractors, fork the project or pass on the office of maintainer to another person.

Deduction from the price

A preliminary default for price deductions is that residents of developing countries receive a deduction of 2% for each step in the Human Development Index their country of residence is below position 127.

Compatible licenses

The CSL is intended to allow use of software components licensed under LGPL License, BSD License, Apache License or Mozilla Public License.

Terms and conditions for use, reproduction and distribution

Definitions

"Maintainer" means the individual or entity identified as the initial developer or an individual or entity appointed (in writing) by the previous Maintainer as the current Maintainer.

"License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction, and distribution as defined by this document.

"Licensor" shall mean the entity authorized by the copyright owner that is granting the License.

"Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition, "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.

"Licensee" (or "You", "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity exercising permissions granted by this License.

"Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications, including but not limited to software source code, documentation source, and configuration files.

"Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical transformation or translation of a Source form, including but not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation, and conversions to other media types.

"Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work (an example is provided in the Appendix below).

"Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of, the Work and Derivative Works thereof.

"Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted" means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems, and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."

"Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and subsequently incorporated within the Work.

Disclaimer of warranty

The Work is provided by the Licensor ``as is´´ and any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement are disclaimed, except to the extent that these disclaimers are held to be legally invalid. In no event shall the Licensor 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 the Work, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.