The Mutualist License v1

Name of this software: (name)
Project home: (link)
Original copyright holder(s): (name(s))

In order to receive any benefits from this license, you must agree to all of its rules. These rules are the conditions of the deal. If you do not follow the rules, you do not have a license. Do not use this software if you cannot or will not follow these rules.

Please read this license as a whole; different sections rely on each other to make sense.

You agree to these rules if you use, run, study, copy, change, share, or sell this software in any way that normally needs permission.

The copyright holders and each contributor licenses you to do everything with this software that would otherwise break or violate that contributor’s copyright and related rights, as long as you follow this license’s rules.

This license does not give you any rights to use any copyright holder’s or contributors’ names, logos, or trademarks in promotion or ads, unless agreed to outside of this license.

If you change this software and then make your changes available to any project that makes or shares this software or software based on it, you license those changes under this same license for everyone.

You “make them available” when you:

• open a pull request, merge request, or patch submission,
• post them in a public project space, forum, or issue tracker,
• include them in any public distribution, or
• let people use them in the project.

Your license for your changes applies only to the parts you made or changed. It does not apply to separate code you mixed with your changes unless you own that code or have permission to license it this way.

By making your changes available, you promise that:

• you have the right to share those changes under this license,
• you are not adding code that has rules you aren’t allowed to give, and
• if someone claims your changes illegally include code they own or that needs different terms, you agree to handle that dispute yourself and not make the other contributors or copyright holders pay for it, as far as the law allows.

Everyone who receives a copy of this software from you, with or without changes, must also receive:

• this license or a link to it, and
• the current Credit block from the copy you received, if any.

You may include the license and Credit in any reasonable way that makes them available to the people who receive the software from you. For example, you can put them in a “LICENSE” file, documentation, an about box, or a place in the user interface or project directory where people normally look for license information.

You may add your own credit or acknowledgments, or update factual information in the Credit block, as long as:

• you keep the original Credit block complete and available somewhere in the project, and
• you do not suggest that the copyright holders or past contributors support or approve of you or your changes unless they actually do.

You must make the original Credit block at least as easy to find as your added credit, even if your added credit is more visible.

If the copy you received did not include a Credit block, you do not have to add one. You may still add one for your changes, if you want.

Machine-readable metadata, like SPDX® headers, count as a “reasonable way” to follow this section’s rules.

If you share this software, with or without changes, or share software based on it, you must use this same license for the copies of this software and any software based on it that you share, and you must follow the Notice rule for those parts.

You must not add new rules that would limit or take away the rights people get under this license for this software or software based on it.

You must not add technical measures to this software that are designed or used mostly to stop others from using their own rights under this license. You are allowed to use security measures whose purpose is to protect users, systems, or data, and that do not stop people from using their rights under this license.

If you change this software and allow others (as defined in Clarity) to interact with it over a network, like the internet, you must give them a clear and easy way to get the source code and this license. This source code must be for that exact version. For example, a clearly labeled link in the user interface that lets them download the source for that version.

You must keep that source available for as long as you are letting others interact with that modified version over a network. If you stop running or offering that modified version entirely, your obligation to keep source available ends at the same time. If you start offering a modified version again later, you must provide the source code again.

If you run or offer an unchanged copy of this software over a network in ways others can interact with, or in any way that relies on this software to work, you do not have to provide source code, as long as you keep any links or references to this software’s home that were already present. You do not have to add new links to the software’s home if none were included when you received your copy.

If you share this software or software based on it with others in a form people can run off of a network, you must also offer them the source code for those parts. You can do this by including the source code with the sharing or by letting them know about a standard and no-cost way to get the source code over a network.

Any time you must provide others with source code, it must not require separate contracts or extra terms beyond this license.

Every copyright holder and contributor, and everyone who gives you this software under this license, also gives you a patent license to use, run, study, copy, change, share, and sell this software as this license allows. It covers any patents they control that you would break by using the software as this license allows.

If they later get new patents, those patents are also covered by this license, but only to the extent that using, running, studying, copying, changing, sharing, or selling this software as this license allows would require you to break their patents.

If you start what we will call a patent attack, you immediately and permanently lose all rights under this license for this software.

A patent attack means starting a patent lawsuit or making a legal demand, such as a cease-and-desist letter or a request for payment, that:

• claims that using, running, studying, copying, changing, sharing, or selling this software, software based on this software, or any contribution to it breaks a patent you control, and
• is aimed at someone who is using, running, studying, copying, changing, sharing, or selling this software or software based on it under this license, and
• that person has accepted this license for that use.

A patent attack does not include legal actions against people whose rights under this license for this software have already ended, for example because:

• they never accepted this license, or
• they lost their rights under Redemption and did not fix the problem in time, or
• they already lost their rights under this Innovation section in a past patent attack.

This rule does not apply if you are only defending yourself. For example, you do not lose your rights under this license if:

1. you are following the license rules, but then
2. someone else sues you first over patents about this software or software based on it, and then
3. you answer in that same dispute by arguing that their patent is invalid, not broken by your use, or cannot be enforced, and/or
4. you bring a counterclaim or cross-claim in that same dispute about their use of this software or software based on it.

This rule also does not apply to patent cases that are only about software or technology that is clearly unrelated to this software and does not include it or software based on it.

This patent rule does not affect any other rights you might have under other licenses or agreements for the same software.

You have permission to link or combine this software with other software licensed under different terms, but only if that other software’s license gives everyone the rights to use, run, study, copy, change, share, or sell it (including its source code).

If the other software fits that description, the Mutualism rule changes. It still applies to this software. However, it does not force you to share the other software’s source code. You must still follow the source-sharing and network rules from Mutualism for the MutuaL-licensed parts, but you do not have to license the combined work as a whole under this license.

If the other software does not meet that condition (for example, if it is closed source or “source-available” but restricted), this Cooperation exception does not apply. In that case, the full Mutualism rule applies to the entire combined work.

This exception only applies if you do not modify this software in a way that mixes its code in a way that it cannot be separated from the other software (like copy-pasting code between files). If you mix the code files together so they cannot be separated, the full Mutualism rule applies to everything.

Any license that fits the Free Software Definition or Open Source Definition automatically meets this condition. This is not the only way for a license to qualify.

This exception is offered by the Mutualist License, but please make sure the other license also plays nice by allowing this on its end. Ask a legal expert if you are unsure.

If any copyright holder of this software lets you know in writing that you have not followed any of the rules of this license except for Innovation, you can keep your license by fixing the problem.

To fix the problem, you must, within 30 days after you receive the notice:

• stop doing the thing that breaks the rules of this license, and
• do what is needed to fix the mistake and make things right, such as giving people missing source code, Notice, or license copies.

If you do this in time, your rights under this license continue as if you never broke its rules. You have done this successfully either when the person who let you know agrees with your fix, or when you have let them know about your fix but they have not responded after seven days. If these seven days extend beyond the 30 day Redemption period, the Redemption period extends to cover this time.

If you do not do this in time, all your rights under this license for this software end automatically at the end of the 30 days. Any copyright holder may choose to give you a new license if they choose, but they do not have to. If they do, it must be in writing.

You do not get this Redemption period if you violate the Innovation rule. In that case, your rights under this license end immediately and permanently when you start the patent action.

This license and its rights and grants last forever, and no one can take any of them back from you or ask you to stop using the software except where this license says your rights could end (for example, under Innovation and Redemption).

The law likes to see certain terms here, so legally speaking, this means: this counts as a worldwide, non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license that lasts as long as copyright and related rights and patent law allows, unless otherwise ended under this license.

If you are using this license for your own software, please read this section carefully and choose the wording that matches what you actually want.

New versions of the Mutualist License may be published from time to time. You can tell a version is a newer version when it has a higher version number than this one. Newer versions will keep the same general Purpose, but may fix problems or clarify the rules.

Each copy of this software will say at the top of wherever it lists its license which version it uses.

If your copy says it is licensed under “Mutualist License version X or later”, “MutuaL X+”, or any similar wording, or if it simply says “Mutualist License version X” without any other guidance, you may follow version X or any later version published at your choice.

If your copy says it is licensed under “only” this version of MutuaL, you must follow this version without using a later version.

If this software chooses to change to a newer version of the license, that does not change the license for the copy you already received.

Once you mix any code under a newer license version with code under an older license version, the newer version must govern the whole combined work. For this reason, you cannot mix code that says you may “only” use a certain MutuaL version unless it is with code that also says you may “only” use the same MutuaL version.

A change in license version is only allowed when moving from a lower version number to a higher version number.

By this software, we are including both its source code and any form built from that source code.

By software based on this software, we mean software that includes this software or parts of it in a way that makes it a derivative work under copyright and related rights. Software that only runs alongside this software, is shared alongside it, or communicates with it over a standard, documented interface, is not based on it. This license does not place any rules on separate software that is not based on it.

By source code, we mean the preferred form of the software for making changes, plus anything needed to build, install, and run it in that form, including scripts, files that describe how the software connects, and configuration files.

By share, we mean giving copies of this software or software based on it to someone else, in any form, by any method, for free or for money.

By copyright and related rights, we mean that besides copyright, we’re also including neighboring rights, database rights, and similar rights in any country.

By standard interface, we mean an API, protocol, or file format intended for helping separate pieces of software talk to or work with each other that has public documentation and that is freely available for anyone to use.

By others, we mean any person, company, or group that is not you, and not part of the same single legal entity as you.

• If you are acting as an individual, “others” means people you don’t live with and that aren’t part of your immediate family.
• If you are acting for a company, nonprofit, cooperative, or other legal entity, “others” means anyone outside that same entity, except for contractors or services working specifically for you. They don’t count as ‘others’ for as long they are doing that work.
• Public users, customers, clients, federated groups, and unrelated organizations always count as “others,” even if access to the service is limited, invite-only, or requires registration.
• Cloud providers, CDNs, and similar outside services do not count as “others” or make them a person or group who “shares” the software when they simply run or deliver what you tell them to.

We need to use legal entity here, but it means a company, non-profit, or organization that the law treats as one single person.

A version of the software is unchanged if you have not modified any part of its code or build configuration in a way that creates a derivative work under copyright or related rights.

By in writing, we mean any signed physical writing or electronic message that identifies the sender and is clear about its intent.

A version of the Mutualist License is only considered real and applicable to Foresight if it appears, or has ever appeared, at the license’s home.

This agreement is only legally binding and enforceable in the English language. This means that when lawyers, courts, or regulators study this agreement, they can only use the English version to decide what it means. If someone translates this agreement into another language to make it easier to read or understand for others, that translated version does not count legally. Only the original English words have legal power. For this reason, please ensure you always bundle the English version if you do choose to offer a translation.

If any part of this license is invalid or can’t be enforced, the rest of the license still applies. That part only is automatically interpreted in the way needed to make it valid. If it cannot be interpreted to be valid, it alone is removed from this license, leaving the rest of it in effect.

Unless the law says we have to, or unless we signed a separate written agreement with you, we provide this software to you “AS IS.”

We do not make any promises about the software. We do not guarantee that it works perfectly. This includes, but is not limited to, the legal warranties of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Unless the law forces us to be, WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE TO YOU OR ANYONE ELSE FOR ANY KIND OF LOSS OR DAMAGE THAT COMES FROM USING THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF WE KNEW IT COULD HAPPEN. This includes things like lost data, broken systems, or money you lose because the software did not work the way you hoped.

You are the one who has to decide if this software is safe or right for you to use or share. You take all the risks when you use it.