Licensing Working Group/Minutes/2021-02-11

OpenStreetMap Foundation, Licensing Working Group - Agenda & Minutes
February 11th 2021, at 20:00 UTC

Participants

• Kathleen Lu (chairing)
• Dermot McNally
• Jim Vidano
• Michael Cheng
• Guillaume Rischard (OSMF board)
• Tom Hummel (guest)

Apologies

Minutes by Dorothea Kazazi

Administrative

Adoption of past Minutes

• 2021-01-14 Accepted.

Previous Action Items

• 2017-03-02 Simon to determine existing obligations towards sources listed on the copyright page.
• 2017-05-04 All/Simon to review import guidelines with regards to licence “approval”.
• 2018-03-08 All to look at the Working Groups collecting personal information.
• 2018-04-12 LWG to follow-up on the iD editor, as the number of changesets is now included on the changeset comments thread.
• 2019-01-10 Simon to draft text to developers of apps related to geo/mapping, having OSM in their names or using variations of our logo.
• 2019-02-14 Simon to summarise the advice regarding information requests from law enforcement and send it around.
• 2019-12-12 Simon to discuss trademark registration strategy (more countries, additional classes, etc) with lawdit
• 2020-01-09 Simon to include text about downstream produced works to the FAQ.
• 2020-03-12 Simon to send to Mateusz the link with the research by Kathleen on attribution on various apps.
• 2020-09-10 Simon to set-up call with Kathleen and our UK lawyer about trademarks.
• 2020-10-08 Jim to work on updating the privacy policy in relation to OSMF's use of a commercial CDN, and Kathleen will have a look at it.
• 2020-10-08 Simon and Guillaume to look at the translation issue of the copyright policy page.
• 2020-10-08 Simon to send his Moovit contact to Guillaume.
• 2020-10-08 Simon to send a summary of which action items need to be done.
• 2020-12-10 Guillaume to update wiki with BBB link.
• 2020-12-10 Guillaume to send the action items from the board to the LWG mailing list.
• 2020-12-10 Dermot to share with the rest of the LWG a document with points from the comments on the current draft.
• 2020-12-10 Guillaume to provide board's answer on next steps for draft attribution guidelines and information on timing.
• 2020-12-10 Kathleen to email Willy Franck about GeOSM.
• 2020-12-10 LWG members to send nominations about the Software Dispute Resolution panel to the internal LWG mailing list by end of next week, with a couple of sentences on the reasons for each nomination.
• 2021-01-14 Kathleen to forward communication to Microsoft.
• 2021-01-14 Guillaume to report on Board status re identification of outside counsel
• 2021-01-14 Dermot to share with the rest of the LWG a document with points from the comments on the current draft.
• 2021-01-14 Kathleen to share questions to outside counsel
• 2021-01-14 LWG to share their questions with outside counsel

Introduction by Tom Hummel

Tom Hummel has applied to become a member of the Licensing Working Group.

• Mapper.
• German lawyer (mostly labour law) - no background in intellectual property law, as it's not a focus in German education. Would like to know more.
• Got into studying law due to free software.

Comments by LWG members

• Other OSMF interests: Corporate requirements of establishing an entity, relocation out of the UK, questions about employment.
• OSM community is more focused on data. The free-software community is source-code and freedom centric.

Tom Hummel (guest) was asked to send a signed non-disclosure agreement to Dorothea. After signing, the LWG will have a vote on his request to join the LWG as a member.

Reportage

Jim - Privacy policy update status

Jim Vidano's (LWG) action item: updating the privacy policy in relation to OSMF's use of a commercial Content Delivery Network.

Current status: reviewing of comments in progress.

Need to update LWG-specific membership requirements and Conflict of Interest (CoI) policy on wiki

Action item: Kathleen Lu to check LWG-specific membership requirements on the OSMF website and Conflict of Interest (CoI) policy and provide to Dorothea any updates for the website.

Kathleen - OpenHistoricalMap status

Parts of the minutes on this section were omitted from the public record after request.

OpenHistoricalMap, a long-time project based on OSM, requested a formal trademark agreement. OpenHistoricalMap is grandfathered under the Trademark Policy.

Draft of proposed agreement circulated for comment.

Co-existence agreement

• Compliance with OSMF trademark policy, which applies to anyone and includes grandfathering clause for older projects.
• Project uses an OSM map.

Public disclosure of co-existence agreement.
To get the registration, sometimes the trademark examiner requires to produce the agreement as a public record.

Suggestions

• Quick look at agreement by Facebook trademark lawyers and confirm whether the agreement is part of a public file wrapper record by default and if there is a way to designate them to not be public.
• Narrow the authorisation - not only about name but also scope.

Action item: Michael Cheng to ask Facebook trademark lawyer and confirm whether the agreement is part of the public file wrapper record by default and if there is a way to designate it to not be public.

Kathleen - GeOSM status

The topic was discussed in two parts, with some intermittent discussion of other topics.

In December 2020 the Licensing Working Group (LWG) received an inquiry regarding GeOsm and its trademark status. This was a topic of the January LWG meeting and Kathleen Lu (LWG) reached to Willy Franck Sob, the main operator of GeOsm. He explained that GeOsm is an expansion of GeoCameroun, and is now used by 21 African countries. It is a data portal to make open maps for the countries more easily accessible. His hope is that GeOsm will eventually be used by countries all over the world. The LWG suggested that OSMF should come with an agreement with GeOsm. The issue was added to the board February mid-month chat.

• Summary sent to the board. Allan Mustard (OSMF chairperson) is probably going to take that on and discussed on next mid-month board meeting.
• LWG work paused till we get feedback from the board.

Attribution guidelines gap list and board status update on outside counsel

The topic was also discussed in two parts, with some intermittent discussion of other topics.

The Licensing Working Group (LWG) had created a draft attribution guideline , which was subsequently modified by the board. After meetings of the board with Corporate Member representatives on attribution (Jun and Oct 2020) and with LWG members (Oct 2020), the board version was modified. In December 2020 the board decided to: Publish the current document after giving the Licensing Working Group (LWG) a heads up tonight. Ask LWG to summarise the points they still consider open from the comments on that document (gap list) and ask Dermot McNally (LWG member), who has no conflict of interest, to present that report at the next LWG meeting. (# Dermot has been asked and agreed to do it). Rory to work with external counsel to try to find the solutions to these issues that are most favourable to us. -- Attribution related meetings, excluding recurring board and LWG meetings 2020-12-04 Board and LWG meeting (Dermot McNally) on draft attribution guidelines - The meeting was set-up in short time. The LWG was invited but only Dermot McNally could participate in such short notice. 2020-10-15 Board and LWG meeting on draft attribution guidelines 2020-10-09 Board and AB Corporate Members representatives meeting 2020-10-02 Session Make progress on attribution guidelines and enforcement, during board screen-to-screen October meeting 2020-06-22 Board and AB Corporate Members representatives meeting Attribution related board minutes 2021: Jan Attribution guidelines update 2020: Jan Attribution and lack thereof, Apr Update on LWG's rewrite of attribution policy, May Status of Attribution policy, Status of Facebook attribution issue on mobile, Jun Status, Meeting with Corporate Members of the Advisory Board on attribution, Oct screen-to-screen discussion, update, Nov update 1, update 2, Dec update (informal board chat), update (public board meeting). 2019 Oct Attribution by Facebook. Attribution guidance related LWG minutes 2021: Jan 2020: Jan (“Twitter attribution thread”), Feb, Mar, Apr, Jul, Aug, Oct, Nov 2019: Jan, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec 2018: Dec OSMF members related discussions: Attribution guideline status update: 2019 Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec Attribution: board letter to Facebook: 2019 Oct, Nov

Gap list: Submit to board?
Legal questions by Kathleen Lu were sent on a separate document to legal@.

The board

• is waiting for document that Dermot McNally (LWG) has been circulating.
• has person in mind for outside counsel (suggested by Allen Gunn - facilitator during board face-to-face annual meetings).
• has to hire outside counsel. Then they can contact the LWG.

Action item: Dermot McNally to submit the document to the board today.

Suggested process

• Board hires an attorney.
• LWG sends questions of board and LWG to outside counsel.
• Get answers, clarifications and perhaps follow-up questions.
• Discussion of LWG and board about who drafts what.

Other point mentioned:

• Some board members believe there is a certain legal requirement, guiding which principle should be picked.

Any other business

None.

Next Meeting

11 March 2021 20:00 UTC on BigBlueButton