The Design Science License is a copyleft-style license that you can use to "copyleft" any work that is recognized by copyright law. It is not a specialized license that only applies to certain kinds of works or subject matter, or only for the products of certain organizations, but it is a comprehensive, generalized license that anyone can use for any work recognized by copyright law. It also ensures that the attribution integrity of a work is kept. The working assumptions in the copyleft grand strategy are the following: data, or information, is not physical; data exists in constant relative abundance; computer software program "source code" is data; with the digital computer it became possible to make unlimited verbatim copies of information without disadvantage -- when you copy data, the original is neither changed nor destroyed. It became apparent that human expression and communication across digital computing networks is actioned through referencing, copying and sampling this weightless, non-physical data. For there to be a free society, any published data ought to be freely shareable -- contrary to current copyright law and assumptions of intellectual property.
Open source could be spearheading a whole new approach to property rights.
Copyleft may be a good thing for software, music and literature, but for the engineering industry it would be almost impossible to implement. The large investment to develop engineering advances means this style of free information – although ethically admirable – would be impossible. In areas where only the promise of large rewards balances the extreme costs of failure, companies need a "carrot" to commit large sums to projects that would otherwise not be attempted.
Intellectual property rights are being challenged on all fronts. Those of us in research, the arts and industry need to continue to receive compensation for our efforts. We do need to rethink how we get paid for our efforts, who our clients are, and who pays us. We do not need to be told to change our ways and have our ingenuity and accomplishments mocked.
Does it make the world more sustainable if it's possible to get the ingredients and instruction manuals for everything you might want to consume and change the recipe whenever you want to?