this is a DRAFT of a theoretical SMITE license meant to discourage widespread usage of cc-by-nc on everything, see below for details. Not an official document. Feedback/ideas welcome! comment/email me (see profile page)

SMITE.md

SMITE

The SMITE license is a modified version of the MIT license that includes an additional clause that prohibits individuals or organizations that have ever released original software under a non-commercial license, or are currently part of an organization that has ever released original software¹ under a non-commercial license, from using the software². This license is intended to prevent large corporations from releasing models or software under non-commercial licenses and then using them for commercial gain. If the user(s) have never released anything with a non-commercial license, then it is just the standard MIT license.

• This license can benefit the open source community by encouraging companies who "openly" release software under a noncommercial license to do so on "intrinsic" grounds, as opposed to using noncommercial licenses as a universal pseudo-noncompete clause. From some points of view, this can be seen as a form of exploitation of the open source community. By helping to prevent companies from using non-commercial software for commercial gain, the SMITE license promotes fairness and equity within the open source community, and encourages companies to release software under more permissive licenses that allow commercial use or not at all, instead of a "I want the best of both worlds".

• In addition, this license may also encourage companies to be more transparent about their licensing practices, which will ultimately be to the benefit of the open source community as a whole.

If it's open, it should be fully open.

Acronym

• S - Scrupulous: Reflects the license's intent to promote ethical and fair behavior within the open source community.
• M - Moral: Reflects the license's goal of promoting moral principles within the open source community.
• I - Integrity: Reflects the license's goal of promoting transparency and honesty in licensing practices.
• T - Transparency: Reflects the license's goal of promoting transparency in licensing practices and ensuring that companies are clear about their use of non-commercial software.
• E - Equality: Reflects the license's goal of promoting fairness and equality within the open source community.

Footnotes

1. Here, the goal of clauses related to "original software under a non-commercial license" is to denote released software that A) didn't need to use a non-commercial license (i.e. due to dependencies of their software, etc.) and B) chose to add a non-commercial license/clause on top of it. ↩

2. As the goal here is to encourage rather than punish, the license should be updated/mention somehow that the restrictions apply w.r.t. the current status of their works, so if the license is updated to no longer use a non-commercial clause that entity is free to use the Software. this is a TODO at time of writing ↩

TEMPLATE_DRAFT

SMITE license

Copyright <YEAR> <COPYRIGHT HOLDER>

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

Individuals or organizations that have ever released original software with a non-commercial license or are currently part of an organization that has ever released original software with a non-commercial license are prohibited from using the Software. "Non-commercial license" is defined as a license that prohibits the use of the software for commercial gain or for the purpose of generating revenue.

Users of the Software must be prepared to demonstrate compliance with the terms of this license at any time. This includes providing written confirmation and proof that they have not released any original software with a non-commercial license or are not currently part of an organization that has ever released original software with a non-commercial license.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

I love it :) I recommend also looking at how the apache license claws back the patent grant if a licensee asserts a patent.