Open Works License Copyfree Certified License

The Open Works License

The Open Works License, henceforth also referred to as the OWL, was developed to fill the need for a copyfree license that does not limit itself in its intended application to software or any other particular content form. It is intended to be understandable to the layman while still providing adequate legal protection and clarity for the terms of the license.

In Brief:

This license is intended to roughly mimic the "public domain" (a legal concept particular to certain jurisdictions) while ensuring that no restrictive copyright claims are enforced. Two important points distinguish this license from the public domain:

  1. Unlike the OWL, modifications of a work in the public domain can be subject to assertions of copyright restriction by the entity that holds the copyright of the modifications that resulted in the modified work. This means that the only version of something released into the public domain that is guaranteed by law to be available in perpetuity under the terms of that release is the original, unmodified version. The OWL is intended to ensure that modified works will also be available under its terms, while still allowing the covered works to be used within larger works that may not employ the same license.

  2. Unlike the public domain, anything licensed under the terms of the OWL should be subject to its terms even in jurisdictions that do not recognize the legal concept of the public domain, as long as it recognizes common concepts of copyright. The OWL is intended to achieve this without imposing restrictions or conditions that cannot exist without copyright enforcement.

In general, you may redistribute, modify, copy, use, fold, spindle, and mutilate any work covered by the OWL as desired, provided you include the text of the OWL with it, granting any recipients of the work (or a derivative work) the same rights and privileges.

Enforcement:

As with any copyfree license, the OWL is designed so that it should be effectively self-enforcing in the general case. This is because it serves more properly as a defense of the possessor against restrictive copyright enforcement than an assertion of legal rights for the copyright holder. Even if, in violation of the license terms, a distributor fails to provide notice of the OWL's terms, the fact that the material was initially distributed under these terms should allow use of the OWL as defense against spurious claims of copyright infringement by license violating distributors.

In cases of plagiarism, which should also apply to cases of redistribution of the work (modified or unmodified) without notice of the OWL's terms, the appropriate jurisdiction's legal provisions for addressing such misrepresentation should be sufficient to settle disputes over licensing, even if effective enforcement of open source license terms are impractical due to the difficulty of proving material damage in civil proceedings.

The above is not intended as legal advice. It merely serves to explain the intent of the design of the Open Works License with regard to enforcement options.

Heritability:

The OWL is designed to serve as a means of encouraging the distribution and use of the covered material -- even within larger projects that are distributed under the terms of other licenses. Weak heritability copyfree licenses such as the OWL are suitable for works whose widespread adoption and use are desirable, such as in cases where the concept or work is more important to be shared widely than the license terms themselves, or when it is believed that strong license terms heritability may hinder the adoption or distribution of the work significantly by virtue of its "viral" nature.

Its use is also encouraged for those who do not much care what happens to their works once released, who wish such intent to be made clear for any form of copyrightable content in any jurisdiction.

History:

Early development versions of this license used the name Public Distribution License. The unfortunate name clash between the Public Distribution License (or PDL) and Sun Microsystems' Public Documentation License (also known as the PDL) prompted the change of the name from PDL to OWL. The fortunate association of the new acronym with a nocturnal avian regarded as a symbol of wisdom is really just a happy accident.

For historical (or hysterical) reasons, the PDL Website will remain accessible in its original form.