Proposing a New Open-Source License for Graphics

Introduction

Teradyne Robotics A/S is proposing a new open-source license for graphics filling a gap of the licenses presently approved by the Open Source Initiative (OSI). The proposed license is provided as the license file LICENSE of this repository.

Currently, Teradyne Robotics A/S uses a proprietary licensing framework for licensing of its graphics. Despite giving the users very broad rights to use the materials licensed under this framework, Teradyne Robotics A/S is, based on feedback received from primarily the ROS community, concerned that the restrictions and proprietary terminology of the licensing framework might discourage third parties, especially individuals and SMEs without the resources and capabilities required to conduct a proper legal review of the license framework, from using the material and thus hinder innovation in the field. Nevertheless, since the implementation of the rather permissive but still (at least, formally) proprietary licensing framework, Teradyne Robotics A/S has also received positive feedback from licensors that would like to use an adapted version of Teradyne Robotics A/S' license terms as they found Teradyne Robotics A/S' license terms to strike an appropriate balance between, on the one hand, encouraging use and innovation of the licensed materials and, on the other hand, safeguarding the interests of both the users and the licensors.

Teradyne Robotics A/S has therefore - in cooperation with its legal advisors - undertaken a thorough review of existing open-source licenses, including Open Source Initiative approved licenses as well as the Creative Commons licenses, to identify a suitable framework for sharing graphics - particularly 3D models of real-world products. The main goal was to find a license that would allow third parties to use these models in simulation environments while not allowing them to manufacture physical products based on them. Additionally, the license had to protect the use and business cases of the third parties using the licensed materials, e.g. for proprietary simulation tools comprising databases and compilations of 3D models, and still ensure the freedom to operate for both the users vis-à-vis other users of the licensed material as well as for the licensor.

Despite extensive analysis, no existing license was found to fully meet the legal, operational, and strategic requirements of both Teradyne Robotics A/S and the users of the licensed materials. Moreover, we found that many of the licenses currently approved by the OSI were either specific to software, which could cause both legal and practical confusion when applied to other copyrighted material due to the differences in legal and technical terminology, or specific to the material of a named licensor. This has led to the consideration of proposing a new open-source license specifically designed for graphics, as we believe that such license will benefit the open-source and especially the ROS community. Despite having invested a significant amount of time and resources into drafting what we have dubbed the "Teradyne Robotics Open Graphics License" or "TERO-GL-1.0", including legal fees to our lawyers who have drafted the terms, Teradyne Robotics A/S wants to make the license terms available for everyone to use based on the notion that "a rising tide lifts all boats" instead of making them specific and proprietary to Teradyne Robotics A/S.

Background

In many industries, companies increasingly rely on graphical assets - such as 3D models, CAD files, and visual schematics - to support simulation, training, and integration. These assets are often shared to:

• Enable realistic simulation environments comprising products visualized by the licensed graphics, which facilitate and encourage innovation and real-world application of the products and solutions.
• Support research and use in both academic and commercial contexts.
• Foster technological development, use and interoperability across platforms.

However, companies must balance openness with protection. While they may wish to encourage use of these files in virtual or educational contexts, they often need to be able to stop competitors from using the files to manufacture real-world replicas, which would risk replacing the company's products on the market, and third parties in general from making derivative works that block the company's ability to innovate and further develop its own products. Simultaneously, other users of the licensed material need be able to rely on them having the freedom to modify the graphics themselves, i.e., that their freedom to operate has not been blocked by a third party making modifications thereto before them. Existing licenses do not offer sufficient mechanisms to account for this distinction.

Motivation for a New License

The proposed "Teradyne Robotics Open Graphics License" would address this gap by:

1. Providing Legal Clarity for Non-Software Assets

   • Most OSI-approved licenses are software-centric (or software-specific) and not well-suited for licensing of graphics.
   • A dedicated license would reduce confusion and facilitate use and sharing of visual and spatial content.

2. Balancing Openness with Strategic Control

   • The license permits free redistribution, adaptation/modification, use and other exploitation of the copyright in the graphical files, however, with due regard for any technological protective measures applied to the licensed material by the licensor.
   • No licenses are granted to any other of the licensor's intellectual property rights, and the licensor may therefore, subject to the existence and scope of these other rights, continue to prohibit, e.g., physical reproduction or commercial manufacturing of products based on the graphics.

3. Supporting Commercial Use while Fostering Innovation and Safeguarding Freedom to Operate

   • As a starting point, derivative works that are shared shall be made available and licensed on the same license terms as the licensed material ("Share-Alike"/"copyleft") in order to foster and facilitate innovation and to ensure the freedom to operate of both the licensor and other users.
   • However, to support the business and use cases of companies marketing visualization and simulation tools, derivative works in the form of compilations and databases are exempt from the "Share-Alike"/"copyleft" requirement and it is allowed to impose technological protective measures thereon to protect the commercial interests of such users.

Benefits to the Open-Source Community

In our opinion, the Teradyne Robotics Open Graphics License offers significant advantages to the broader open-source ecosystem as it:

• Fills a Critical Gap:
  There is currently no OSI-approved license optimized for graphical assets. This new license would empower creators and organizations to use and share visual content with confidence.

• Encourages Broader Participation:
  Designers, engineers, and educators who work with 3D models and visual assets would have a clear, legally sound framework for contributing to open projects.

• Promotes Innovation and Interoperability:
  By enabling controlled sharing of graphical files, the license would support cross-platform development, simulation tools, and collaborative research.

• Improves Legal Accessibility:
  Tailored language and scope would make open licensing more approachable for non-software professionals.

• Strengthens Trust and Adoption:
  Clear boundaries around permitted and restricted uses would help companies feel more secure in contributing to open initiatives.

Compliance with the Open-Source Definition

We believe that the TERO-GL-1.0 license meets all ten criteria of the Open Source Definition ("OSD"). It supports free use, modification, and redistribution of graphical and technical content, with clear copyleft provisions and no discriminatory or restrictive clauses.

1. Free Redistribution

• OSD requirement: The license shall not restrict any party from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources. The license shall not require a royalty or other fee for such sale.
• License clause:
  • Clause 2.1: "...[l]icensor hereby grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce and [s]hare the [l]icensed [m]aterial, in whole or in part, and to produce, reproduce and [s]hare [a]dapted [m]aterial."

2. Source Code

• OSD requirement: The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form. Where some form of a product is not distributed with source code, there must be a well-publicized means of obtaining the source code for no more than a reasonable reproduction cost, preferably downloading via the Internet without charge. The source code must be the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program. Deliberately obfuscated source code is not allowed. Intermediate forms such as the output of a preprocessor or translator are not allowed.
• License clause:
  • Clause 1.5: "Licensed Material" [includes] configuration files, scripts, and other contents of [the licensed] technical files...
  • This ensures access to editable, source-like materials. However, it is not possible to meet the balancing-of-interests objective of the TERO-GL-1.0, cf. the above, if a broader license to software is granted as the scripts and other files (used for simulations) naturally need to be based on the proprietary software used in the physical versions of the products in order to ensure true-to-life simulations in real-world environments. A broader software license would create doubts as to whether such proprietary software would be covered by the license (by extension).

3. Derived Works

• OSD requirement: The license must allow modifications and derived works, and must allow them to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software.
• License clause:
  • Clause 2.1: "[...] [l]icensor hereby grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable copyright license [...] to produce, reproduce and [s]hare [a]dapted [m]aterial."
  • Clause 3.1.2.1: "[...] make such [a]dapted [m]aterial...available for use by anyone...and license it on the terms of this License..."
  • Clause 3.2: "[...] you may [s]hare your [c]ompilations and [d]atabases under license terms of your choosing [...]"

4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code

• OSD requirement: The license may restrict source-code from being distributed in modified form only if the license allows the distribution of "patch files" with the source code for the purpose of modifying the program at build time. The license must explicitly permit distribution of software built from modified source code. The license may require derived works to carry a different name or version number from the original software.
• License clause:
  • Clause 2.1: "[...] [l]icensor hereby grants you a worldwide, royalty-free, non-sublicensable, non-exclusive, irrevocable copyright license [...] to produce, reproduce and [s]hare [a]dapted [m]aterial."
  • Clause 3.1.2.1: "[...] make such [a]dapted [m]aterial...available for use by anyone...and license it on the terms of this License..."
  • Clause 3.1.2.2: "...indicate that the [a]dapted [m]aterial has been changed, including how, when, and by whom..."

5. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups

• OSD requirement: The license must not discriminate against any person or group of persons.
• License clause:
  • No clause imposes restrictions based on identity or affiliation.

6. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor

• OSD requirement: The license must not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. For example, it may not restrict the program from being used in a business, or from being used for genetic research.
• License clause:
  • No clause limits use in specific industries or applications.

7. Distribution of License

• OSD requirement: The rights attached to the program must apply to all to whom the program is redistributed without the need for execution of an additional license by those parties.
• License clause:
  • Clause 2.2: "...every [r]ecipient [of the licensed material] automatically receives an offer from the [l]icensor to exercise the [l]icensed [r]ights..."
  • Clause 3.1.2.1: "...provide the [r]ecipient with a copy of this [l]icense..."

8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product

• OSD requirement: The rights attached to the program must not depend on the program's being part of a particular software distribution. If the program is extracted from that distribution and used or distributed within the terms of the program's license, all parties to whom the program is redistributed should have the same rights as those that are granted in conjunction with the original software distribution.
• License clause:
  • Clause 1.5: "[The license applies to] [...] any graphical files and documents, including STEP-Files (ISO 10303-21), Collada (.dae), STL files (.stl), GLB files (.glb), GLFT files (.glft), Jupiter Tessellation files (.jt), E-plan files (.emp), electrical schematics, CAD files, and drawings, as well as configuration files, scripts and other contents of these technical files, to which the [l]icensor has applied this [l]icense".
  • Clause 2.2: "...every [r]ecipient [of the licensed material] automatically receives an offer from the [l]icensor to exercise the [l]icensed [r]ights..."
  • Clause 3.1.2.1: "...provide the [r]ecipient with a copy of this [l]icense..."

9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software

• OSD requirement: The license must not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. For example, the license must not insist that all other programs distributed on the same medium must be open source software.
• License clause:
  • Clause 1.6: "...except for scripts, software shall not be considered [l]icensed [m]aterial'."
  • Clause 3.2: "[...] you may [s]hare your [c]ompilations and [d]atabases under license terms of your choosing [...]"
  • These clauses - combined with the absence of any express or implied restrictions on other software distributed along with the licensed material - ensure that the license does not affect unrelated software.

10. License Must Be Technology-Neutral

• OSD requirement: No provision of the license may be predicated on any individual technology or style of interface.
• License clause:
  • Clause 1.5: ""Licensed Material" shall mean the graphical files and documents, including STEP-Files (ISO 10303-21), Collada (.dae), STL files (.stl), GLB files (.glb), GLFT files (.glft), Jupiter Tessellation files (.jt), E-plan files (.emp), electrical schematics, CAD files, and drawings, as well as configuration files, scripts and other contents of these technical files [...]"
  • The license applies to graphical files and documents in general and it is not predicated on any particular format or the like despite the non-exhaustive list of formats and types of materials, which we have included to avoid doubts as to the scope of the license.

Projects Utilizing the License

Teradyne Robotics A/S intends to utilize the license when making graphics visualizing its products (currently, promoted under the brands of "Universal Robots" and "Mobile Industrial Robots") available to the public, for instance, for use in connection with virtual simulations of environments wherein the Teradyne Robotics A/S' products can be used. Teradyne Robotics A/S also intends to use the TERO-GL-1.0 within its own ecosystem(s) and online communities to facilitate and encourage sharing and use of the covered material both within and outside of these ecosystems and online communities.

Further, Teradyne Robotics A/S participates in the Robot Operating System community, ROS, by providing drivers enabling Universal Robots' robot arms to be controlled by the open-source software provided by ROS. In this regard, other ROS users have expressed a desire to inter alia utilize graphics simulating Universal Robots' robot arms for their applications, and Teradyne Robotics wants to make these graphics available to the ROS community as a whole based on the proposed license.

Comparison with the Most Similar OSI-approved License(s)

In terms of the subject matter of the license, the OSI-approved license that is the most similar to the proposed TERO-GL-1.0 is the CERN-OHL-W-2.0 license as it also applies to the use and sharing of hardware designs and includes a "weak(er)" copyleft clause. However, the CERN-OHL-W-2.0 differs significantly from the TERO-GL-1.0 with respect to the (remaining) legal terms, inter alia, because it contains a patent license and explicitly permits manufacturing of products based on the licensed materials. Otherwise, many of the OSI-approved licenses contain terms that are identical or at least similar to the TERO-GL-1.0, such as attribution requirements, disclaimers of liability and warranties, and copyleft terms.

Although CC-BY-SA-4.0 has not been approved by the OSI, it is, in our opinion, also worth mentioning that the structure and terminology of the TERO-GL-1.0 is inspired by the CC-BY-SA-4.0.