Marko Lahtinen wrote: > Im thingking about using a component, which is released under MPL, in my > commercial application. The component I intend to use is not modified. Can I > use the component without making my application open source and what other > things I need to consider ?
The MPL is a file-level copyleft. If by "not modified" you mean you've added entire untouched files then you don't have to make the rest of your app open source, you only have to worry about the notification requirements. If you incorporate part of an MPL'd file into another file you need to publish that entire file as a Modification, but not other files which are wholly your own. Keep your life simple and don't mix Mozilla code and yours in the same files. If you can avoid creating a Modification (http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/MPL-1.1.html#1.9) then you only need to worry about the notification requirements for Larger Works (section 1.7 and 3.7). The most relevant bit will be section 3.6, Distribution of Executable Versions, where you need to say that you incorporated source code available under the MPL and where to get it. The notice needs to be in the executable and anywhere else (documentation?) where you "describe recipients' rights relating to the Covered Code". Most projects have interpreted that to mean anywhere you put a copyright notice for your program. If this is a commercial product you should run this by your lawyer (I am a developer), but several large commercial product have shipped based on Mozilla code that incorporate proprietary (non-open source) software. The most obvious example is Netscape. -Dan Veditz _______________________________________________ mozilla-license mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.mozilla.org/listinfo/mozilla-license
