ORL-2.2
An early-stage startup forking and modifying it, under ORL 2.2
Funded or bootstrapped, under the threshold, shipping a commercial product. Changing the Work and distributing your version. This resolves to the Root tier.
Tier
Owed
Nothing. No fee, no report, no filing.
Sections in play
1.7, 2.1, 2.2, 8.1, 8.3
Who and what
The situation being resolved.
Actor
An early-stage startup
Funded or bootstrapped, under the threshold, shipping a commercial product.
under 2M USD
Situation
Forking and modifying it
Changing the Work and distributing your version.
Rulings
3 questions resolved against the text.
Which tier applies?
Root. Funded or bootstrapped, under the threshold, shipping a commercial product. Below $20,000,000 in trailing revenue, or within an exempt category, no Canopy royalty applies. Sections 4, 6, 8, and 10 still bind every Licensee.
Sections 1.7, 2.1, 2.2
Is anything owed?
Nothing. No fee, no report, no filing.
Sections 2.1
What travels with a fork?
Retain the notice, licence reference, governing version, and attribution records under Section 8.1. Section 8.3 also requires a discoverable identification of altered portions.
Sections 8.1, 8.3
Cautions
What this situation gets wrong most often.
Revenue is measured across entities under common control, per Section 1.4. A parent company above the threshold makes its subsidiary a Canopy Licensee regardless of that subsidiary's own turnover.
Same actor
Other situations for this party.
Non-normative. Where this and the licence text disagree, the licence text applies.