Hippocratic License FAQ

Note: This FAQ was composed by contibutors to the hippocratic license, and was made available under CC BY 4.0. This page was modified to better fit the Gemini format.

Has the Hippocratic License been subject to legal review?

Yes. We worked with a team of talented and specialized IP lawyers to create versions 2.0 and later of the license.

Is the Hippocratic License open source?

It is the intention and belief of the author that the Hippocratic License is an open source license, and that it meets the criteria of the [Open Source Definition](https://opensource.org/docs/osd) (OSD). However, it has not yet been reviewed by the OSI, so a determination on its OSI approval status is pending.

Is the Hippocratic License based on an existing open source license?

Originally yes, it was based on the MIT License, but the 2.x revisions brought it so far from that license that it can’t really be thought of as a derivative anymore.

Doesn't the Hippocratic License violate the "No Discrimination" and "Fields of Endeavor" terms of the Open Source Definition?

Those sections state that an Open Source License must not discriminate against any person or group of persons, or against any field of endeavor, respectively.

No Groups or Fields are discriminated against by the Hippocratic License. People in the Groups are welcome to use software under the Hippocratic License in their Fields. The restrictions in the Hippocratic License target specific activities, not groups of people or fields of work. The restrictions apply equally to all people and all groups, in all fields of endeavor. Therefore, the restrictions are not discriminatory in any way.

Is the Hippocratic License enforceable?

Enforcement is a legitimate concern, and we worked hard on this aspect of the license based on feedback from the community following its initial launch. Unlike many other licenses, which rely on courts to settle issues of license violations, the Hippocratic License puts the power of enforcement directly in the hands of the code's creators.

Ethics can vary from person to person and place to place, so how can the Hippocratic License be considered ethical by everyone?

Edmund Berkeley, an early computer pioneer and founder of the Association for Computing Machines, said that there are activities which are undeniably for social good, activities which are undeniably against social good, and a wide swath of activities in between. The Hippocratic License has as its ethical foundation the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a milestone human rights document that was drafted by representatives from around the world and proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 as a common standard for all peoples and all nations. The UDHR is a set of ethical standards defining universal human rights that do not vary from person to person or place to place.

How do I annotate the Hippocratic License in project documentation?

Use "Hippocratic 2.1".