Since SourceForge is providing the hosting more-or-less for free, and in a fair way, taking reasonable steps to comply with their policy on this seems like a decent thing to do. There are additional reasons for getting this straight that may not be apparent, too. If this code makes it into Linux distributions and/or other pieces of software, and then is later subject to court action because it's being distributed (unwittingly) in an illegal way, this could cause a cascade of problems for a lot of other people that, like you guys, are basically just doing this for fun and maybe to make the world a little bit better, and who really have no resources with which to fight legal battles. A stitch in time here may save many more than nine. No one would be happier than me if the worlds of "for profit" and "non-profit/hobby/for-fun" could be separated so that the latter never had to think about the former. Unfortunately, that's not the state of things, but a little advance preparation like this will go a long way towards keeping csound out of trouble. Mike On 7/9/07, Michael Gogins wrote: > You know, we're not hiding anything, we're not making any commercial products that compete with anything licensed by these patent holders -- or with anything licensed by Steinberg, for that matter. > > Therefore, I prefer to use this stuff out in the open where they can object if they want to. They know about it -- if they want to know about it, since all this is discussed publicly in well-known places. > > I repeat: we're not hiding anything, and they can object to it if they want to. I prefer to put the burden on them instead of on us. > > The fact that they have not objected may create a precedent of adverse possession, although of course I am not a lawyer. > > Regards, > Mike > > -----Original Message----- > >From: Anthony Kozar > >Sent: Jul 9, 2007 3:36 PM > >To: New Csound Developer list > >Subject: [Cs-dev] STK license and Sourceforge requirements > > > >>From the STK web site > > > > > >"Legal and Ethical Notes > > > >This software was designed and created to be made publicly available for > >free, primarily for academic purposes, so if you use it, pass it on with > >this documentation, and for free. If you make a million dollars with it, > >give us some. If you make compositions with it, put us in the program notes. > > > >Some of the concepts are covered by various patents, some known to us and > >likely others which are unknown. Many of the ones known to us are > >administered by the Stanford Office of Technology and Licensing. The good > >news is that large hunks of the techniques used here are public domain. To > >avoid subtle legal issues, we will not state what's freely useable here, but > >we will try to note within the various classes where certain things are > >likely to be protected by patents." > > > >------ > > > >The STK documentation claims that it is an "open source" library but it does > >not meet fundamental aspects of the open source definition such as granting > >the right to charge a few for distribution. Sourceforge requires that all > >software components that we distribute meet the requirements of the OSI open > >source definition: > > > >http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd > > > >Therefore, my conclusion is that we should stop distributing the STK-wrapper > >opcodes in binary form and we should remove the source code from the Csound > >download page. We could still supply the STK wrapper source file and allow > >users to build their own module, but it should not be on the Sourceforge > >site in binary form. > > > >Furthermore, the assertion of patent rights by Stanford over unknown > >portions of STK without the grant of any license to use those patests makes > >it extremely dangerous to use! I think that the authors of STK and their > >respective universities should be taken to task over this. They are > >academic researchers and institutions. They should be promoting the free > >usage and expansion of the knowledge that they "create", not placing > >impediments on it. > > > >Anthony Kozar > >anthonykozar AT sbcglobal DOT net > >http://anthonykozar.net/ > > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------- > >This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express > >Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take > >control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. > >http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ > >_______________________________________________ > >Csound-devel mailing list > >Csound-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > >https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/csound-devel > > > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express > Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take > control of your XML. No limits. Just data. Click to get it now. > http://sourceforge.net/powerbar/db2/ > _______________________________________________ > Csound-devel mailing list > Csound-devel@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/csound-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by DB2 Express Download DB2 Express C - the FREE version of DB2 express and take control of your XML. No limits. Just data. 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