Discussion:
License compatibility of BSD-new to X11
Jan-Christoph Borchardt
2011-04-12 10:56:16 UTC
Permalink
Hey all,

at the moment I mail web application developers to license their code
freely. Now I have a (probably easy) question regarding license
compatibility:

A developer wants to release his application as MIT/X11. It uses the Dojo
toolkit which is licensed as modified BSD (or Academic Free License 2.1).

Is this possible? The third clause of the modified BSD seems to prevent that:
?Neither the name of the <organization> nor the names of its contributors
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.?

Thanks in advance. :)


--
Jan-Christoph Borchardt
http://libreprojects.net
Bernhard Reiter
2011-04-12 13:26:40 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan-Christoph Borchardt
A developer wants to release his application as MIT/X11. It uses the Dojo
toolkit which is licensed as modified BSD (or Academic Free License 2.1).
Is this possible?
In general the license of each component must be followed.
For the part one person, e.g. a developer, hold the exclusive copyrights,
this person can release the part under a license.
Post by Jan-Christoph Borchardt
The third clause of the modified BSD seems to prevent
that: ?Neither the name of the <organization> nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
software without specific prior written permission.?
This would mean you cannot use the organisation doing the Dojo part
or their contributors to endorse Dojo or products based on it.
But why would someone do this? :)

IANAL,
Bernhard
--
FSFE -- Deputy Coordinator Germany (fsfeurope.org)
Your donation makes our work possible: www.fsfeurope.org/help/donate.en.html
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Hannes Hauswedell
2011-04-12 15:33:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jan-Christoph Borchardt
Hey all,
at the moment I mail web application developers to license their code
freely. Now I have a (probably easy) question regarding license
A developer wants to release his application as MIT/X11. It uses the Dojo
toolkit which is licensed as modified BSD (or Academic Free License 2.1).
?Neither the name of the<organization> nor the names of its contributors
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.?
Thanks in advance. :)
Hi there,

MIT License ~= X11 License ~= 2-Clause-BSDL ~= ISC License

It is debatable whether 2-Clause BSDL is the same as 3-Clause BSDL,
since international conventions on copyright and many national laws
don't allow the specified promotion anyways.

Still, I don't see your problem. Dojo's License only applies to Dojo, as
it is not copyleft. So anything your developer does can be licensed
under an arbitrary license, so long, as Dojo's copyright header is
preserved for the Dojo-Code involved.
In other words, just tell your developer to not call his app "Dojo
Powerpack X" and he'll be fine.

Of course, this is just personal advice and not legal counsel. If you
want to be sure, consult a lawyer.

Regards,
Hannes
Jan-Christoph Borchardt
2011-04-12 17:51:00 UTC
Permalink
Thank you both Bernhard and Hannes.

Seeing how it can be used even in proprietary products it should be no
problem, I just wasn?t sure because of this clause. I didn?t know if Dojo
can be viewed on its own.

As I?m even less of a lawyer, that helped.
Post by Jan-Christoph Borchardt
Post by Jan-Christoph Borchardt
Hey all,
at the moment I mail web application developers to license their code
freely. Now I have a (probably easy) question regarding license
A developer wants to release his application as MIT/X11. It uses the
Dojo
Post by Jan-Christoph Borchardt
toolkit which is licensed as modified BSD (or Academic Free License
2.1).
Post by Jan-Christoph Borchardt
Is this possible? The third clause of the modified BSD seems to
?Neither the name of the<organization> nor the names of its
contributors
Post by Jan-Christoph Borchardt
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.?
Thanks in advance. :)
Hi there,
MIT License ~= X11 License ~= 2-Clause-BSDL ~= ISC License
It is debatable whether 2-Clause BSDL is the same as 3-Clause BSDL,
since international conventions on copyright and many national laws
don't allow the specified promotion anyways.
Still, I don't see your problem. Dojo's License only applies to Dojo, as
it is not copyleft. So anything your developer does can be licensed
under an arbitrary license, so long, as Dojo's copyright header is
preserved for the Dojo-Code involved.
In other words, just tell your developer to not call his app "Dojo
Powerpack X" and he'll be fine.
Of course, this is just personal advice and not legal counsel. If you
want to be sure, consult a lawyer.
Regards,
Hannes
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