Pre-submission: Open Use of Data Agreement

2019-11-16 update: O-UDA-1.0 has been submitted for approval.


Colleagues at Microsoft have created the Open Use of Data Agreement (O-UDA) and intend to submit it for approval as conforming to the Open Definition. Currently O-UDA is in 1.0 pre-release. Before finally releasing 1.0 we would like to preview the submission in order to get feedback that might be pertinent to O-UDA’s approval. (Of course other feedback is also welcome, that’s why there is a public drafting process; see below.) When the 1.0 release is finalized, the link to the license text will change. Note I am conflicted so my opinion will not count when it comes to the approval process.

That said, Microsoft believes that the O-UDA is conformant with the Open Definition because the O-UDA permits everything described in Section 2.1 of the Open Definition and only imposes conditions approved by Section 2.2: (1) retention of existing notices and (2) a preservation of warranty.

1. Link to the full license Text

Here is a link to the full text of the license in English.

2. License Rationale

The O-UDA is a simple agreement used to permit anyone to use data under the agreement for any purpose, with only minimal obligations. In short:

· Use of data under the agreement carries no obligations.

· Redistribution of the Output from use of the data under the agreement—including results of analysis of the data or ML models trained with the data—carries no obligations.

· Redistribution of data under the agreement—modified or unmodified—carries two minor obligations. First, the redistributor must pass on all attribution information. Second, the redistributor must pass on the warranty and liability disclaimers from the data provider.

· The redistribution obligations are designed to encourage sharing by limiting the liability of the data provider and ensuring that those downstream can identify where the data came from.

3. Explain whether the license may be used by any licensor, or is specific to an organization/place/jurisdiction.

The O-UDA may be used in any licensor, and is designed to be used across jurisdictions.

4. Compare and contrast to the most similar approved as OD-conformant licenses 5. Explain the benefit the new license brings over already approved OD-conformant licenses which would outweigh the costs of license proliferation?

The O-UDA is a short and simple agreement that is focused on contractual rights. CC-BY 4.0 focuses on copyright or sui generis database rights that may or may not exist, depending on the circumstances and jurisdiction. Although ODC-BY and CDLA-Permissive include contractual rights, O-UDA has simplified language in comparison to both, and relative to the latter, has taken a data provider-friendly approach by not including representations about the data.

5. Identify which recommended conformant licenses the new license is compatible with, and how – by alignment (permissions identical or a superset of existing license, conditions identical or a subset) and/or express permission to license the original and/or adaptations of the licensed work under an existing license.

The O-UDA is compatible with all recommended conformant licenses.

  • CC0: Data released under CC0 can be released under the O-UDA. Data released under the O-UDA cannot be released under CC0 because CC0 does not contain a limitation of liability required by section 4.3 of the O-UDA. Data sets containing data released under O-UDA and other data released under CC0 can be created and distributed under O-UDA.
  • PDDL: Data released under the O-UDA can be released under the PDDL. We believe that the PDDL use of “Rightsholder” encompasses “Data Provider” and “Upstream Data Provider” in O-UDA and therefore meets the O-UDA obligations. Data released under the PDDL may be released under the O-UDA. Data sets containing data released under O-UDA and other data released under PDDL can be created and distributed under either the O-UDA and the PDDL.
  • CC-BY 4.0: Data released under the O-UDA can be released under CC-BY 4.0. We believe the Creative Commons’ use of “Licensor” encompasses “Data Provider” and “Upstream Data Provider” in O-UDA and therefore meets the O-UDA obligations. Because CC-BY 4.0 does not permit relicensing, data released under CC-BY 4.0 cannot be released under O-UDA. Data sets containing data released under O-UDA and other data released under CC-BY 4.0 can be created and distributed under CC-BY 4.0.
  • ODC-BY: Data released under the O-UDA can be released under ODC-BY. We believe the Open Data Commons’ use of “Licensor” encompasses “Data Provider” and “Upstream Data Provider” in O-UDA and therefore meets the O-UDA obligations. Since the ODC-BY does not permit relicensing, data released under ODC-BY cannot be released under O-UDA. Data sets containing data released under O-UDA and other data released under ODC-BY can be created and distributed under ODC-BY.
  • CC-BY-SA 4.0: Data released under the O-UDA can be released under CC-BY-SA 4.0. We believe the Creative Commons’ use of “Licensor” encompasses “Data Provider” and “Upstream Data Provider” in O-UDA and therefore meets the O-UDA obligations. Because CC-BY 4.0 does not permit relicensing, data released under CC-BY 4.0 cannot be released under O-UDA. Data sets containing data released under O-UDA and other data released under CC-BY 4.0 can be created and distributed under CC-BY 4.0.
  • ODbL: Data released under the O-UDA can be released under ODbL. We believe the Open Data Commons’ use of “Licensor” encompasses “Data Provider” and “Upstream Data Provider” in O-UDA and therefore meets the O-UDA obligations. Since the ODbL does not permit relicensing, data released under ODbL cannot be released under O-UDA. Data sets containing data released under O-UDA and other data released under ODbL can be created and distributed under ODbL.
  • CDLA-Permissive: Data released under the O-UDA can be released under CDLA-Permissive. CDLA-Permissive has representations on exercising reasonable care to assure that “(a) the Data it Publishes was created or generated by it or was obtained from others with the right to Publish the Data under this Agreement; and (b) Publication of such Data does not violate any privacy or confidentiality obligation undertaken by the Data Provider.” Although the O-UDA does not have a similar representation, if a data provider has taken reasonable care to make the representation for even the O-UDA released data, data sets containing data released under O-UDA and other data released under CDLA-Permissive can be created and distributed under CDLA-Permissive.
  • GPLv3: Data released under the O-UDA can be released under GPLv3. Since GPLv3 does not permit relicensing, data released under GPLv3 cannot be released under O-UDA. Data sets containing data released under O-UDA and other data released under GPLv3 can be created and distributed under GPLv3.

6. Provide a link to any public drafting process (e.g., conducted on a public communication forum of some sort; multiple drafts presented to that forum) for the license.

The public drafting process was conducted on GitHub here.

4 Likes

I read it over quickly (not with fine care). Nothing jumps out as questionable to me.

2 Likes

Ni! Same here. I only have a small issue with parentheses which I’ll report at github since it does not pertain to its conformity to the Open Definition.

2 Likes

I see no issues. This looks good to proceed.

1 Like