Software Bill of Rights proposes new Fair Software license
Forwarded message:
Note the project is still in beta and invitation only.
Alain Raynaud:
Everyone loves Open Source and the GPL license that allows you to freely use someone else’s code.
Except it’s hard to pay the rent writing *free* software. So we invented a new license, the Software Bill of Rights: “when you benefit from my code, you owe me a *fair* cut of the profit.”
Fair Software keeps track of who owes what and guarantees that everyone receives their fair share. With Fair Software, small software businesses and micro-ISVs can grow their development team using a collaborative approach similar to open source, where every contributor gets paid when the software gets sold.
Because contributors get paid on future revenue, you can start a project with zero cash. Just like stock-options in a traditional startup, everyone on the team is motivated to see the product succeed. You don’t even have to see a lawyer or incorporate a company, all you have to do is list your project with us - it’s free - and start “hiring” contributors.
Contact: Alain Raynaud - Founder, FairSoftware, Inc. - alain@softwarebillofrights.org - (408) 667-5118
January 15th, 2008 at 1:31 pm
This looks interesting.
I would like to see a similar initiative in the area of inventions.
Patent law protects those with lawyers and money. That normally excludes the backyard inventor. A “fair” compensation system modeled after this idea could be of great use in helping useful energy inventions emerge into production.
January 18th, 2008 at 9:17 am
i think this is brilliant. looks like it could also be applied to any digital material used later for commercial purpose. could be another license under the initiative over at creative commons project for example http://www.creativecommons.org/
January 20th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Mtias,
I know a few other startups trying to adopt similar “revenue sharing” principles to media and content in general. Our approach is focused on software but could easily be adapted to most immaterial intellectual property. What I have not seen elsewhere is so much emphasis on fairness.