[legal] Comments on copyright license in the proposed IPR policy

[Simon Josefsson]

Hi!  I'm new to the OpenId.net lists.  I am an independent developer,
and I am working on OpenID related stuff for a startup company.  I have
also participated in discussions for better IPR conditions within the
IETF.  A recent document that collect some insight from that is:

http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-josefsson-free-standards-howto-00.txt

I reviewed the OpenID IPR policy, and I've notice one potential
problematic thing in the copyright license, with regards to free
software license compatibility.  The copyright license says:

   "Copyright License. Some Contributions are not subject to
   copyright. However, to the extent a Contribution is or may be subject
   to copyright, the Contributor hereby agrees to grant a perpetual,
   non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide copyright license to OpenID,
   to other Contributors, and to Implementers, to reproduce, prepare
   derivative works from, distribute, perform and display the
   Contribution and derivative works thereof solely for the development
   and implementation of OpenID Specifications."

This do not grant a copyright license to third parties.  Is that the
intention?

I'm having trouble seeing how a free software product would reference
the OpenID copyright license, when it borrows material from the
specifications.  Do you even allow free software to borrow material from
OpenID specifications?

Will there be a 'Copyright (C) XXXX OpenID Foundation'?

It is common for copyright licenses to require that the copyright notice
and the license must be retained in all copies of derived material.  I
could not find similar wordings in your policy.

Suggestions:

In addition to your own copyright license, dual-license contributions
under a widely known free license, e.g., the GPL, GFDL or CC-BY-SA

Alternatively, just license everything under a permissible license, such
as the BSD or MIT license.

Thanks for your consideration,
Simon