[Kde-accessibility] SSML and the GPL

[Kenneth Wimer]

* Gary Cramblitt <garycramblitt at comcast.net> [Oct 30. 2004 19:27]:
> On Saturday 30 October 2004 12:42 pm, Kenneth Wimer wrote:
> > > There is an article by Jonathan Eisenzopf here
> > >
> > >   http://www.developer.com/voice/print.php/1565321
> > >
> > > which seems to imply there are some licensing encumberances regarding
> > > VoiceXML.  It isn't clear to me whether these encumberances apply to SSML
> > > or not.  If they do, it could be a violation of the GPL (and Debian
> > > policy) to use SSML in KTTSD.
> >
> > I am not an expert either, but if you read the whole page (the second
> > one) you will find the fiollowing sentence in BOLD print
> >
> > "As a result, there are no known impediments to Royalty Free
> > implementations of the W3C Speech Interface Framework specifications."
> 
> I've looked at the W3C RF License and I can't make heads or tails of it.  If 
> an entity wishes to sell a commercial product using KTTSD, but under the GPL, 
> do they have to seek licensing terms from SSML patent holders or not?

Well, if you read all the related information (good post!) you will see
that all of the patent holders agreed to allow a free license of usage
to basically anyone (although many of them would apperently like you to
somehow contact them and tell them what you are doing). The only
possible problem is the one patent holder who has not responded to this
(Rutgers University) but it appears that they don't have a problem with
it if they do not respond. In any case, they are a unviersity, so if
they know that we are not making money on this stuff, I doubt that they
will care. Unless of course they have some secret plans to create the
super-mega-accesability-program which they will then sell to the masses.

It appears taht at this time it is safe to continue working on this, but
I am not a lawyer.

Bye,
Kenneth

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