ASF spec licensing issues

Shane Wright me at shanewright.co.uk
Sat Jul 20 20:54:14 BST 2002


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Hi Ben,

I have been looking at the ffmpeg code and the xine code for writing the 
plugin (was helpful for the AVI plugin too); but reading/using the spec as 
well.

Its a good plan though; but using it straight is probably overkill for a kfile 
plugin that just wants a small bit of info as quickly as possible.

Also good to hear they don't mind people writing readers for it :)

Cheers

Shane


On Saturday 20 July 2002 8:34 pm, Hetz Ben Hamo wrote:
> Well,
>
> Instead of starting to fiddle with those spec files - why won't you take
> something which is:
>
> 1. ready (more or less) to be used
> 2. Support big amounts of codecs, decode and encode:
>
> Codecs:
>   Encoders: ac3 mp2 mpeg1video h263 h263p rv10 mjpeg mpeg4 msmpeg4v1
> msmpeg4v2 msmpeg4 wmv1 wmv2 rawvideo pcm_s16le pcm_s16be pcm_u16le
> pcm_u16be pcm_s8 pcm_u8 pcm_alaw pcm_mulaw
>   Decoders: rawvideo h263 mpeg4 msmpeg4v1 msmpeg4v2 msmpeg4 wmv1 wmv2
> mpegvideo h263i rv10 svq1 mjpeg mp2 mp3 ac3 pcm_s16le pcm_s16be pcm_u16le
> pcm_u16be pcm_s8 pcm_u8 pcm_alaw pcm_mulaw
> Supported file protocols: file: pipe: udp: http:
>
> 3. Avaialable under LGPL license.
> 4. Not done by you, so MS (which as far as I understand - knows very well
> about it) cannot sue you about this (and frankly - they don't care much).
>
> It's called ffmpeg - and you can get a CVS snapshot from
> www.sf.net/projects/ffmpeg (the web site is a bit outdated but the project
> continues to live, and coming soon - native RTP/RTSP support).
>
> Thanks,
> Hetz
>
> Oh - and just like the other guys - IANAL ;)
>
> On Saturday 20 July 2002 20:48, Shane Wright wrote:
> > Hi
> >
> > I've been working on a KFile Plugin for ASF media files and I've just
> > read the license that comes with the ASF spec.  There are a couple of
> > somewhat worrying clauses, copied below...
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > 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); (b) not using Identified Software
> > (e.g. tools) to develop the Implementation; 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
> >
> > 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.
> >
> > 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,
> > (c) It will be GPL'd when done,
> >
> >
> > 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?
> >
> > If its not possible to implement it, I'll stop (nothing's in CVS yet),
> > and I'll remove the entry from the 3.1 feature plan.
> >
> > btw, if anyone wants to read the full thing, it's downloadable from
> > http://www.microsoft.com/asf/
> >
> > Cheers

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