Hi! My pleasure, and I wish you much luck and success with your project!
You're right about the patents - it is a pain, and an obstruction to open source software. In Europe Software Patents are not permitted, but unfortunately in other countries (eg USA) it is possible to patent an algorithm... Nowadays the world really needs a global copyright/patent law, but I think this will still take some time. Richard Unger -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht----- Von: Zhan Zhaohua [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Gesendet: Mittwoch, 09. November 2005 02:33 An: Unger Richard Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] Betreff: Re: [directfb-users] AW: AW: [directfb-dev] Some Question about License Hi! We really express thank you again. Those Information is too useful, So We will check each Software more careful for the COPYRIGHT & License and checked them with our lawer at last. But the 'algorithms'/patents seems a trouble, it maybe a obstructor for the Open Source. And How to know the patents we maybe use should/shouldn't use in commercial products. Seems Mplayer meet this problem few weeks ago. You suggest us use one linux distribution to get the license and COPYRIGHT. It is a good idea, But does it will case the patents problem? Thank you for your advise, we will try to contact linux distributor. Best regards Zhan Zhaohua 2005.11.9 --- Unger Richard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hi! > > First I have to mention that I am NOT a lawer, so my > advice should be taken with care, and checked with > your lawer. > > My understanding is that, unfortunately, you will > need to check the licenses of ALL software that you > use in your product. > > This is in three categories: > > 1) Software that you use only to create the product (compilers, > linkers, testing software, content creation software) but do not ship > with the product. In general this should be NO problem, since this > software is sold or provided specifically for the > purpose of working with it. However, for some very > specialized software tools, restrictions may apply > on the artifacts they generate. I do not expect you > will have a problem here. > > 2) The software you ship with your product. You will > need to check each software package that is used on > the product to make sure you have the necessary > rights to use and redistribute it (in compiled > form). Unfortunately for most software products this > does mean that if you need A, and A uses B, and B > uses C, you will need to check the licenses for A, B > and C, since you will need to include all three in > the product. > Also, don't forget Fonts (Typefaces) here, most of > which are also covered by copyright and licenses. > > 3) Finally, another thing you need to check is 'algorithms'/patents. > For a DirectFB-related product this is probably for technologies like > MPEG2, MPEG4, mp3, and similar codec technologies. These codecs > are covered by patents owned by industry > associations or companies, and they require license > fees for products using these technologies. > Often it is the case that Open Source projects > provide implementations of these codecs WITHOUT > having the required licenses for the patents they > use. Sometimes it is the case that the Open Source > project has an agreement with the patent holder > permitting it to provide the software free of charge > for non-commercial use. > The companies usually ignore open source, > non-commercial use of their patents, but will not > ignore commercial products that use the patents. > For you this means that you not only need to check > the license for the software, but also the license > for the patent. > However, this is not the situation for most of the > software you will use, only for things like codecs. > > > The above sounds a lot worse than it is: for a > linux-based system, almost all the software you will > need will have an open source license that will not > cause you any problems. After all, there are already > very many commercial products based on linux. > > One possible option for you is to use the help of a > linux 'distributor' (like RedHat, RedFlag, VALinux, > etc...). These companies will sell you a linux > distribution (version) for use in your product. > Aside from the other benefits like having an expert > technical partner and support, you can make the > contract so that the distributor assumes > responsibility for the licensing issues. You buy a > linux version which is guaranteed by the distributor > to be commercially useable, and the licensing issues > for the software are his problem. > > Hope that helps, > > Regards from Vienna, > > Richard Unger > __________________________________ Yahoo! Mail - PC Magazine Editors' Choice 2005 http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ directfb-users mailing list [email protected] http://mail.directfb.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/directfb-users
