ASF spec licensing issues

[Shane Wright]

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Hi,

Interesting reading - all looks plausible to me!

But, as you say, there are a couple of points that make it somewhat less than 
safe to go ahead (using GPL'd tools and saying so, having already read - and 
implemented against - the spec).

Also, it wants to be in kdemultimedia rather than kdelibs, it wants to be GPL 
to fit the rest of KDE, and I sooo don't have the resources or inclination to 
defend it in court. :(

Sod it, unless anyone else wants to take it up I'll remove it from the feature 
plan until such time as I've forgotten everything in the spec and can 
implement it purely from xine/ffmpeg (btw- wonder how they implemented it..?  
perhaps before the anal licensing clauses were added..)

btw - from what I can see, you're the guy to quiz about the vCard classes, you 
may have another mail from me somewhat soon ;)

Cheers 

Shane

On Saturday 20 July 2002 7:18 pm, Rik Hemsley wrote:
> #if Shane Wright
>
> Here's my reading. Note that I'm just going by my personal understanding.
> I'm pretty confident I will make some incorrect statements, so please
> be kind :)
>
> > 2 (c) ...Further, you shall use commercially reasonable efforts to
> > ensure that the use or distribution of your Solution, including the
> > Implementation as incorporated into your Solution, shall not in any
> > way disclose or reveal the information contained in the
> > Specification.
>
> Doing anything other than releasing it under an Open Source license
> would be commercially unreasonable in your case, so I wonder if this
> clause is enforcable using its maybe-intended meaning.
>
> > 2 (g) ...your license rights to the Specification are conditioned
> > upon your (a) not distributing the Implementation in conjunction with
> > Identified Software (as defined below);
>
> Translation: You're not allowed to distribute it with anything other than
> kdelibs (based on my later reading that LGPL is ok), so it can't be in
> any of the other KDE modules, though can be distributed separately from
> KDE.
>
> > (b) not using Identified
> > Software (e.g. tools) to develop the Implementation;
>
> Translation: You're not allowed to edit the code using a GPL text editor
> (EMACS), nor are you allowed to compile it using gcc while developing it. I
> don't see anything about compiling it with gcc _after_ it's been developed.
>
> I also don't see how they could prove you edited the code with EMACS or
> compiled it using gcc unless you add EMACS modelines, use gcc extensions,
> explicitly state that you have used either of them in the development
> process, etc.
>
> > and (c) not
> > distributing the Implementation under license terms which would make
> > the Implementation Identified Software....    ...Identified Software
> > includes, without limitation, any software that requires as a
> > condition of use, modification and/or distribution of such software
> > that other software distributed with such software (x) be disclosed
> > or distributed in source code form; (y) be licensed for the purpose
> > of making derivative works; or (z) be redistributable at no charge
>
> Translation: You're not allowed to make it GPL, but you can make it LGPL.
>
> > Part 2 (d) is also annoying; it says that my 'Solution' (the KFile
> > plugin), must implement the Spec in it's entirety; hardly appropriate
> > for its purposes.
>
> Difficult one.
>
> > So, the way I read that, I can't develop the plugin because:
> >
> > (a) I don't want the implement all of the spec,
> > (b) I'm using GPL'd tools to implement it,
>
> Oh dear, you said that in public.
>
> > (c) It will be GPL'd when done,
>
> Looks like that's impossible, but my reading is that LGPL is possible,
> plus probably some of the other Open Source licenses (BSD, MIT...)
>
> > The point is, am I reading this wrong?  Is it legal to develop the
> > plugin? Alternatively, would it have been legal if I hadn't read the
> > spec and just based it purely on xine's ASF/WMV code?
>
> I think it would have been legal, had you not seen the spec, but
> of course IANAL.
>
> Rik

- -- 
Shane
http://www.shanewright.co.uk/
Public key: http://www.shanewright.co.uk/files/public_key.asc
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