[ohf-licenses] Another open car project -- and their license

[Terry Hancock]

I was fact-checking a story on the C,mm,n and the OSCar, when I
discovered that I had overlooked another "open source" car project:

http://www.osgv.org/

I use quotes around "open source" advisedly. Here's their FAQ about
their licensing terms:

http://www.osgv.org/frequently-asked-questions/

Which, among other things, attempts to rationalize some of the non-free
bits of their license, such as this:

"""
1.2. Development Use Only
     This License Agreement specifically prohibits Licensee to:
     a) produce an article of manufacture (as defined by U.S.
        patent laws) based on the Licensed Work; or,
     b) perform computer simulation, program execution or reverse
         engineering with the purpose of developing or enhancing
         a design that conflicts with the Mission of OSGV;

     To produce a prototype or production unit based on Licensed
     Work, the licensee must obtain the "OSGV Production License"
     respectively, which is out of the scope of this license
     agreement.
"""

Some of the terms are clearly wrong-headed (IMHO anyway), but the
liability concerns are real, and we might learn something from the
warranty disclaimers.

Can we construct a *free* license that would satisfy these kinds of
concerns?

I'm intrigued by the question of whether this license actually has as
much authority as it claims to. Is it enforceable? What happens if you
break it? It actually attempts to restrain you from certain actions if
you "examine" the data (which of course, is not something copyright can
actually do).

Full license link:
http://www.osgv.org/open-design-model/public-license/

which links to this PDF of the license itself:
http://www.osgv.org/uploads/osgv_open_design_license_v_0_1.pdf

Cheers,
Terry

-- 
Terry Hancock (hancock at AnansiSpaceworks.com)
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com