proposed Test Materials license

Hi Joseph,

I have a QAWG action item to confer with you about licenses for test 
materials that W3C makes available to the public.

The "Operational Guidelines" of the QA Working Group (QAWG) define 
guidelines for the process and operational aspects of the quality practices 
of the W3C WGs.  One of the considerations is licenses applicable to test 
materials [1].  We have had discussion in the past, and concluded that W3C 
Document License was better than W3C Software License, for a number of 
reasons.

As indicated in the "Note" at the end of checkpoint 6.2 [1], the QAWG now 
believes that a Test Materials (TM) License is needed.  A draft proposed 
Test Materials License is at [2].  The rationales for a TM License include:
    * Test Materials are specific documents provided for a specific, 
defined and limited purpose. The license to use and copy them can therefore 
be specific, defined and limited.
    * The W3C SOFTWARE and DOCUMENT licenses are more general in nature and 
do not provide for the precise license grant. The W3C SOFTWARE and DOCUMENT 
were not intended to cover the conveyance of rights effected by the 
proposed "Notice and License for Test Materials."
    * Any ambiguity that may exist with respect to someone's right to use 
the test materials under the "one size fits all" W3C SOFTWARE and DOCUMENT 
licenses are expressly clarified by the proposed "Notice and License for 
Test Materials."
In addition, the following is expressed by some W3C members who are 
potential contributors of test materials:
    * Essentially this document addresses the ambiguity of the Software 
license that makes it impossible for vendors to submit a testing code.
In other words, some potential TM submitters will not submit materials if 
they are under the Software (or Document) license for re-use and 
redistribution.

We look forward to your thoughts and feedback on this.

Regards,
Lofton Henderson
(QAWG co-chair)

[1] http://www.w3.org/TR/qaframe-ops/#Ck-proc-define-pub-licenses
[2] http://www.w3.org/QA/WG/2002/11/W3CTestLicenseDRAFT.html