Re: Freescale and Lua copyrights

[Michael Jones <mike at proclivis dot com>]

Jifl,

I did a bit of research, and I found that when you download the iMX6 SDK, there is a LICENSE.txt in the root directory with the following text:

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,
are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:

o Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list
  of conditions and the following disclaimer.

o 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.

o Neither the name of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. nor the names of its
  contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
  software without specific prior written permission.

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.

The previous text I sent is in the individual files.

Does this satisfy the requirements and allow the code in?

Mike


Michael Jones
email: mike@proclivis.com
ecos iMX6Q Project: https://sourceforge.net/projects/ecosfreescale

On Jan 24, 2014, at 10:12 AM, Jonathan Larmour <jifl@jifvik.org> wrote:

> On 24/01/14 15:30, Michael Jones wrote:
>> 
>> I would like to resolve this quickly so I can plan for evolving the current
>> semi-hacked working version of the iMX6 hal to a version suitable for
>> incorporation (desired), or if the effort is too large, remain independent
>> (not desired). It is difficult to know where to invest time without knowing
>> what will be allowed.
>> 
>> Can you accept this Freescale Copyright into the official eCos code base:
>> 
>> /*
>> * Copyright (c) 2012, Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
>> * All rights reserved.
>> *
>> * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY FREESCALE "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 FREESCALE 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.
>> */
> 
> Unfortunately that isn't a license, that's a copyright message with all rights
> reserved, and a disclaimer. "All rights reserved" means there is no right to
> copy, modify, redistribute, etc. You will need to talk to Freescale to get
> that resolved, or to recode it, sorry. Note that this restriction on
> redistribution applies whether or not you contribute it!
> 
> As has happened before, I suspect it's just sloppiness on Freescale's part and
> they did intend it to be fully re-distributable, but with what it says above
> that legally isn't the case.
> 
>> I have a Lua 5.2.3 port that is fully functional. It has minimal modifications. It is called from my telnetd package (will be submitted to eCos with full copyright assignment when mature). There is no way to rewrite this to avoid the copyright, so will you accept this Lua Copyright into the official eCos code base:
> [snip]
> 
> Yes, the Lua licence is fine. The only thing I would request is that a note is
> made in documentation reminding users of this license, since it won't be the
> normal eCos one.
> 
> Good luck with Freescale!
> 
> Jifl