Bug#583758: gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad: linking against libvpx makes package unredistributable

Loïc Minier lool at dooz.org
Mon May 31 08:03:49 UTC 2010


On Sun, May 30, 2010, Reinhard Tartler wrote:
> |     Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
> |     modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
> |     are met:
> |     - Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
> |       notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
> |     - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above
> |       copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following
> |       disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided
> |       with the distribution.

 That's ok, we always comply with these terms per Debian policy.

> |     - Neither the name of Google nor the names of its contributors may
> |       be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
> |       without specific prior written permission.

 That's an acceptable limitation, you would fall under trademark anyway

> |     THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
> |     "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
> |     LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
> |     FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
> |     COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
> |     INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING,
> |     BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
> |     LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER
> |     CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
> |     LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN
> |     ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
> |     POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

 Usual disclaimer

> |     Subject to the terms and conditions of the above License, Google
> |     hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive,
> |     no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this
> |     section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell,
> |     sell, import, and otherwise transfer this implementation of VP8,
> |     where such license applies only to those patent claims, both
> |     currently owned by Google and acquired in the future, licensable by
> |     Google that are necessarily infringed by this implementation of
> |     VP8. If You or your agent or exclusive licensee institute or order
> |     or agree to the institution of patent litigation against any entity
> |     (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that
> |     this implementation of VP8 or any code incorporated within this
> |     implementation of VP8 constitutes direct or contributory patent
> |     infringement, or inducement of patent infringement, then any rights
> |     granted to You under this License for this implementation of VP8
> |     shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed.

 So basically the problem is with this patents section.  In Debian, my
 understanding is that we dont really consider software patents of any
 interest unless there's active enforcement of some patents because it
 would put the ftpmasters or the mirror admins at risk.  We mostly
 weight the risk of including patented code rather than the implications
 for patents in licenses.

 My personal recommendation would be to ask ftpmasters whether they see
 any patent risk with the VP8 bits (I think not since we have libvpx)
 and whether they mind the mixture of LGPL with patents-legalese.

On Sun, May 30, 2010, Sebastian Dröge wrote:
> (Just for the record, if necessary I, as copyright holder of the VP8
> plugin sources, would be fine with licensing the VP8 plugin under a BSD
> license. And I guess the single other copyright holder would be fine
> with this too. Then there really shouldn't be anything to discuss here
> anymore... but as said above, I don't think this is necessary)

 Relicensing would make matters simpler and would probably void this
 discussion.

   Cheers,
-- 
Loïc Minier





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