[gst-devel] gstreamer plugin license

[Edward Hervey]

On Fri, 2009-03-13 at 16:58 +0800, Liang Zhao wrote:
> Julien,
> 
> I agree with you about LGPL, but for my cases, mp3demux, seems it has
> few issues (just my personal oppionion).
> I quote an example from Android, in Android formal release, it has
> openCore engine with mp3demux sourcecode embedded, and its license is
> Apache license. If it has patent issues, google may not release it.

  Apache is *way* more liberal than (L)GPL, that's why it doesn't
conflict (and that's why Google insist on not having (L)GPL code in
there).
   Edward

> 
> That's just my guess. :)
> 
> Zhao Liang
> 
> 2009/3/13 Julien Moutte <julien at moutte.net>
>         Hi,
>         
>         Please have a look at paragraph 11 of the LGPL :
>         
>         ---
>         11. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of
>         patent
>         infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent
>         issues),
>         conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order,
>         agreement or
>         otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License,
>         they do not
>         excuse you from the conditions of this License.  If you cannot
>         distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations
>         under this
>         License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a
>         consequence you
>         may not distribute the Library at all.  For example, if a
>         patent
>         license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the
>         Library by
>         all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through
>         you, then
>         the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would
>         be to
>         refrain entirely from distribution of the Library.
>         ---
>         
>         That means that any (L)GPL component that you distribute needs
>         to be redistributable with no patent restriction.
>         
>         This is completely incompatible with most patent licensing
>         agreements which require you to pay a royalty fee for every
>         unit you ship.
>         
>         Please find attached a document written by our lawyer on that
>         topic.
>         
>         Fluendo's products are covering part of this problem. You can
>         license proprietary decoders and demuxers that will work with
>         GStreamer and come with or without patent licenses.
>         
>         Hope this helps,
>         
>         Best regards,
>         
>         Julien Moutte,
>         FLUENDO S.A.
>         http://www.fluendo.com
>         
>         
>         
>         
>         
>         Edward Hervey wrote:
>                 On Fri, 2009-03-13 at 10:27 +0800, Liang Zhao wrote:
>                  
>                         Hi all,
>                         
>                         I plan to port mpegaudioparse and asfdemux in
>                         plugin-ugly into my
>                         product for resale, is it reasonable?
>                            
>                 
>                  If you mean whether you have the right... it's LGPL,
>                 so yes :)
>                 
>                  
>                          no any license/patent issues?
>                            
>                 
>                  Two different things:
>                  * The software license (LGPL) : If you make any
>                 modifications, try to
>                 push them upstream, since anybody buying your
>                 'product' will have the
>                 right to demand the exact source code use to build
>                 those plugins.
>                 
>                  * Patents. This is for container formats... and it's,
>                 to be honest, a
>                 very tricky situation.
>                  There are some saying you need to pay royalties (to
>                 whom?) and some
>                 not (because container formats are trivial). But
>                 something tells me that
>                 if there was any patents involved ... you would
>                 already be covered
>                 considering that you must have decoders (asf without
>                 wm* decoders is
>                 useless, and mpegaudioparse without mp3 decoder also)
>                 for which you
>                 acquired (or are acquiring, or got the usage rights
>                 with the hardware
>                 decoders) a usage license.
>                  Consult a lawyer.
>                 
>                  
>                          if have, after I pay the royalty, is it ok?
>                            
>                 
>                  The two items above are the only major items to be
>                 aware of. But as I
>                 said, if you're making a product, you might want to
>                 consult a lawyer
>                 specialized in that field.
>                 
>                  Keep us informed of your progress and show us what
>                 product it is once
>                 it's released :)
>                 
>                   Edward
>                 
>                  
>                         -- 
>                         BRs.
>                         Zhao Liang
>                         
>                 
>         
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