{"id":3882,"date":"2014-11-06T00:34:54","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T04:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/sj\/?page_id=3882"},"modified":"2023-02-17T14:41:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T18:41:41","slug":"utter","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/sj\/utter\/","title":{"rendered":"[UTTR] Utter License \u2205"},"content":{"rendered":"

UTTR \u2661.5<\/span><\/h4>\n

You may do UTTERLY ANYTHING with this work.<\/tt> \u2205<\/tt><\/span><\/p>\n

___
\n<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
UTTR <\/strong>is\u00a0the world’s shortest license.
\nIt reserves no rights to the author,
\nand grants\u00a0utter license\u00a0for\u00a0reuse.<\/td>\n		Utter License (n.)<\/em>
\na minimal way to grant<\/em>
\nall rights to a work\u00a0<\/em>\u2205<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

Usage and variants<\/h3>\n

By reference<\/em>:
\n\u00a0\u30fb<\/tt>\u2205<\/span>\u00a0 \u2013 single-character icon, in tables, or after the full name has been used
\n\u00a0\u30fb<\/tt>UTTR<\/tt><\/a>\u2205<\/span>\u00a0or\u00a0[UTTR<\/tt><\/a> \u2205]<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 in a caption or footer (“Licensed under UTTR\u2205<\/em>“)
\n\u00a0\u30fbUTTR License<\/tt> \u2013\u00a0 in a sentence (“We set the UTTR License to music<\/em>“)<\/p>\n

Inline<\/em>:
\n\u00a0\u30fbYou may do UTTERLY ANYTHING with this dance [UTTR \u2205]
\n<\/tt><\/span>\u00a0\u30fbDo UTTERLY ANYTHING with this plasmid.<\/tt> \u2205
\n<\/tt><\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u30fb\u2767 please do\u30fbutterly anything\u30fbwith these haiku<\/em>\u00a0\u2205<\/sub><\/sup><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Capitalized words are a style choice here, as in all licenses.
\nYou can replace the last word with a phrase describing the work.
\nYou can drop the first two words. A closing \u2205 helps identify the license.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Motivation<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I needed a terse, maximally permissive license, so I wrote one:
\nUtter License. http:\/\/<\/span>blogs.law.harvard.edu\/sj\/uttr<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a>
\n[Do UTTERLY ANYTHING with this tweet<\/span><\/a> \u2205<\/tt>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0 These are copies from bricks found in the ruins of Ur,
\nthe\u00a0work\u00a0of\u00a0Bur-Sin<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of Ur, which while searching for the
\ngroundplan\u00a0the\u00a0Governor of Ur found,\u00a0and I saw and wrote
\nout for the marvel\u00a0of the beholder.\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0[UTTR \u2205]<\/tt><\/span><\/p>\n

UTTR was designed for inline use in tweets, bylines, captions, icons, genes, &c.
\nIt cannot grant rights you don’t own.\u00a0The unilateral grant implies no warranties.
\nPing us if you find creative uses for it.\u00a0See the Appendix<\/em> for bulkier alternatives.<\/p>\n

Utter symbolism<\/h4>\n

We wanted a symbol denoting “no rights reserved”, a counterpoint to\u00a0\u00a9, that is\u00a0<\/span>in common character sets. \u00a0We chose the empty-set in mathematics,\u00a0\u2205<\/strong>, which has\u00a0a common variant on mobile keyboards: the vowel\u00a0\u00f8 \u00d8.<\/p>\n

Credits<\/h3>\n

Thanks to\u00a0James<\/a>, Mako<\/a>,\u00a0Molly<\/a>, Erin<\/a>, Andy, Tony, and others who contributed gray cells\u00a0to this nanocuriosity.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Appendix: Alternative license options<\/h3>\n

There are other terse\u00a0ways to waive all rights in a work.<\/p>\n

1: “No Rights Reserved \u2665<\/em><\/span>” or “I reserve no rights in this work<\/em><\/span>” are negative equivalents.<\/span><\/p>\n