search-with-chatgpt-powered-by-openai-extension/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-10-19-license-design.md

# Replace the license

Status: implemented on `docs/replace-license`. Researched and reviewed, but not
legal advice; no lawyer has read it.

## Problem

The old `LICENSE.txt` was a stock business EULA, unchanged since June 2024. It:

- allowed use only "for your internal business purposes", which leaves out
  people using the extension at home;
- banned copying and reverse engineering, although the source is public and the
  listing links to it;
- named "Zavage Software inc." as licensor, though the code is Mathew's;
- said users agreed by installing, which binds no one who installs from AMO.

## Goals

1. Anyone may use the extension for free, for any purpose, forever.
2. Nobody may fork it, republish it, or build or sell anything from it.
3. Everything else is reserved.

The text must not scare ordinary users away.

## How it was reviewed

Three multi-agent passes on 2026-10-19. Each finding was checked against primary
sources by a separate skeptic.

1. Seven lenses: US law, international law, platforms, comparable licenses, a
   would-be cloner, ordinary users and drafting. A completeness critic followed.
   This pass produced 92 findings.
2. A four-lens adversarial review of the revision, which produced 29 findings.
3. A final consistency check and cold read.

## Decisions

- **Custom text.** No standard license fits all three goals:
  - PolyForm Strict allows noncommercial use only.
  - PolyForm Internal Use covers business use only.
  - PolyForm Perimeter, Shield and Noncommercial, Elastic, BSL and FSL all allow
    redistribution.
  - CC BY-NC-ND allows sharing unchanged copies.
- **A permission, not an agreement.** Copyright already forbids forks without
  anyone agreeing to anything. "By installing you agree" doesn't bind people who
  install from a store (Specht v. Netscape, 2d Cir. 2002).
- **Licensor: Mathew Guest, publishing as Zavage Software.** Colorado lists a
  Zavage Software Inc. LLC, but the code was never assigned to it. Section 10
  keeps the license in force if the code later passes to a company.
- **Earlier versions are covered.** On AMO, versions 1.0, 1.2 and 1.3 share one
  license record (9155), and their signed packages bundle the old EULA. Section 9
  replaces those terms.
- **Each version stays free forever.** A later version may carry different
  terms, but it can't take back what this license gives. The owner chose this
  over promising that every future version stays free.
- **Changed copies stay within your household or organization.** There is no
  route for having Mozilla sign a changed copy. Submitting to AMO makes the
  submitter warrant worldwide distribution rights (Firefox Add-on Distribution
  Agreement §5(c)), which this license withholds. Changed copies still run as
  temporary add-ons, or in Developer Edition, Nightly and ESR.
- **Reviews are welcome.** Reviews, tutorials, classes and security reports may
  name the extension, quote short parts, and show its icon and screenshots of it
  in use.
- **Liability is capped at US$50**, for claims about the Software only. The cap
  has explicit exceptions (injury, fraud, deliberate or reckless harm, gross
  negligence, product liability). A bare "to the extent the law allows" doesn't
  save a cap in Germany, the UK or the EU.
- **Clauses left out:**
  - A courts clause, which binds no forker and is unfair to EU and UK consumers.
  - A noncompete or a ban on similar extensions. Ideas aren't protected, and
    such a clause risks copyright misuse.
  - Clauses on AI training and on outside contributions.
- **The name is "Freeware", not "Free Use".** "Free Use" has a slang meaning, and
  "free" alone suggests free software.
- **The layout is plain text.** AMO shows license text as plain text: every line
  break shows, and there's no Markdown. So each paragraph sits on one line, and
  headings read "Section N:".

## Publishing on AMO (untested, 2026-10-19)

1. In the Developer Hub, open the add-on's **Manage Authors & License** page.
2. Set "What is your license's name?" to `Zavage Software Freeware License 1.0`.
   The listing's License link and each version's "Source code released under …"
   line show this name, not the text's first line.
3. Paste `LICENSE.txt` unchanged, and leave the End-User License Agreement box
   unticked.
4. Save. Saving edits the shared record, so 1.0, 1.2 and 1.3 all show the new
   text, and the next upload inherits it.
5. Check every version:

   ```sh
   curl -s https://addons.mozilla.org/api/v5/addons/addon/search-with-chatgpt/versions/ \
     | jq '.results[] | {version, license: .license.name}'
   ```

AMO turns the email address into a link to its own home page. It looks odd but
does no harm.

## Outside the license

- **Register the copyright** with the US Copyright Office (Standard Application,
  US$65), and exclude AI-generated material that is more than trivial.
  Registration is needed to sue and to keep a takedown in place after a
  counter-notice. Statutory damages and fees also depend on registering within
  three months of first publication.
  - 1.2 and 1.3 reached AMO on 18 and 19 October 2026, so their window runs to
    about 18 January 2027.
  - The 1.1 code was pushed to the public Gitea in July and August 2026. If
    those pushes count as publication, its window closes around 29 October to
    1 November 2026. The old license's copy ban suggests they didn't, but that
    reading is low confidence.
  - So file by late October 2026 to be safe, and have an IP attorney confirm.
- **Replace the Chrome repository's `LICENSE.txt`.** It still carries the old
  EULA and the public@zavage.net contact.
- **Report clones** through Mozilla's infringement form or
  dmcanotice@mozilla.com. On AMO, Mozilla's own fork rule is a second route. Use
  the Chrome Web Store's and Microsoft's DMCA forms for those stores.
- **Don't mirror the repository publicly on GitHub.** GitHub's terms let any
  GitHub user fork a public repository there.