Additional simplification. Final draft

policies/ip-policy.md

@@ -2,15 +2,13 @@
 
 The Commonhaus Foundation (CF) supports individual projects (each, a “Project” and together, the “Projects”).
 
-All new inbound code contributions to individual Projects are made pursuant to the license applicable to each such Project (with respect to each Project, the “Project Code License”).
-
 ## License Selection and Usage
 
 > [!TIP]
 > CF supports a wide range of open source licenses to ensure projects can choose what's best for them.
 > We’ll check these licenses, including for any software they rely on, to make sure everything works together without legal issues.
 
-CF projects can use any [open source license approved by the Open Source Initiative](https://opensource.org/licenses/) (OSI).
+CF projects must use an [open source license approved by the Open Source Initiative](https://opensource.org/licenses/) (OSI) for their source code.
 
 The CF will review Project Code Licenses and the licenses of its dependencies to ensure that all components of the project are compatible under the chosen license and do not introduce legal conflicts or restrictions that could affect the Project's or Foundation's operation.
 
@@ -26,43 +24,38 @@ The CF is most familiar with the following four licenses, which can simplify the
 > [!TIP]
 > Projects can pick appropriate licenses, including Creative Commons licenses that permit commercial use, for their non-code content like documentation and images.
 
-A CF Project can define a "Project Documentation License" to cover all documentation, image, and audiovisual files (e.g., .txt., .rtf, .doc, .pdf, .jpg, .tif, .mp3, .wav, and some .html files) (including without limitation code that is intended as sample code if included in a documentation file).
+A CF Project may define a "Project Documentation License" to cover all documentation, image, and audiovisual files (e.g., .txt., .rtf, .doc, .pdf, .jpg, .tif, .mp3, .wav, and some .html files) (including without limitation code that is intended as sample code if included in a documentation file).
 The Project Documentation License can be any OSI-approved license or a Creative Commons license (like [CC BY 4.0](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)) that permits commercial use.
 
 ## Contributions
 
 All new code contributions to any Project must be made under the Project Code License.
+
 Contributions must be accompanied by either a Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO available at <http://developercertificate.org/>) or a Contributor License Agreement (CLA), as determined by the project’s technical governing body.
-The DCO or CLA binds the individual contributor and, if applicable, their employer to the Project Code License.
 
-> [!TIP]
-> All code contributions must align with the project’s license and come with a promise (DCO or CLA) from contributors that they have the right to contribute under these terms.
+The DCO or CLA binds the individual contributor and, if applicable, their employer to the Project Code License.
 
 ### Developers Certificate of Origin (DCO) or Contributor License Agreement (CLA)?
 
 The DCO and CLA differ in their approach to intellectual property rights.
 
-- A DCO is a straightforward method for contributors to assert their rights to submit work, typically through a declaration in the commit message.
-- A CLA is a formal agreement that grants the project broader rights over the contributions.
+- A DCO is a straightforward method for contributors to confirm they have the necessary rights to submit work, typically through a declaration in the commit message.
+- A CLA is a formal license agreement that grants the project very broad rights over the contributions.
 
 While a CLA offers flexibility in managing licenses and greater control over contributions, a DCO facilitates ease of participation with a less formal mechanism for contribution.
 
 ## Intellectual Property Rights
 
-> [!TIP]
-> Joining CF doesn’t grant us any rights to your IP beyond what’s needed for project contributions. Your IP remains yours.
-
-General membership in the Commonhaus Foundation does not imply any license to a member's intellectual property.
-Members grant no license to their intellectual property to the Commonhaus Foundation, except under the following conditions:
+Individual contributors grant no license to their intellectual property to the Commonhaus Foundation, except under the following conditions:
 (a) their commitment to abide by this Policy, the applicable Project Code License(s), and the applicable Project Documentation License(s) for their contributions to any Project; and
 (b) any applicable Contributor License Agreement.
 
 ## Implementing the IP Policy
 
-Project leaders should ensure compliance with this policy and provide clear guidance to contributors.
+Project leaders should ensure compliance with this policy and provide clear guidance to individual contributors.
 
 - Use the [standard website footer][] for member project websites to reference this and other CF Policies,
-- Ensure that contribution guidelines are updated and accessible, and
+- Ensure that contribution guidelines are updated and accessible (in `CONTRIBUTING.md` for example), and
 - (optionally) Maintain accurate copyright statements.
 
 ## Collaborations and External Projects
@@ -84,8 +77,8 @@ Using copyright statements in source code is a practice with mixed adoption.
 If your project wants to add copyrights to source code, we recommend one of the following:
 
 - Copyright &lt;year of file creation> The XYZ Authors.
-- Copyright &lt;year of file creation> Contributors to the XYZ project.
-- Copyright &lt;year of file creation> The original author or authors.
+- Copyright &lt;year of file creation> Contributors to the XYZ Project.
+- Copyright &lt;year of file creation> [a list of the original author or authors].
 
 Updating the year after the file is created is unnecessary.