Re: OpenDivX license
I contacted the Project Mayo guys a few weeks ago about this, telling
them that I was worried about this license which they claim (and
probably want) to be OpenSource, and which obviously isn't. They don't
seem to see the issues as real problems. A few other people are trying
to convince them as well.
On Tue, Jan 23, 2001, Davide Puricelli wrote:
> 1. You may use the Codec (and any Larger Work created by you) to
> create Encoded Content, and may use, copy, distribute, display and
> transmit that Encoded Content, provided that Encoded Content may not
> be used for direct commercialization,
This looks to me like discrimination against fields of endeavour :
one cannot use their program to create content that is then to be sold.
> 2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Codec or any portion of
> it, provided that you cause the modified files to carry prominent
> notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any such
> change.
This is OK, directly taken from the GPL.
> 3. You may copy, distribute, display and transmit the Codec's source
> code, in any medium, subject to the following:
This one looks OK to me as well.
> 4. You may copy and distribute the Codec in object code or executable
> form under the terms of Sections 3, provided that you also accompany
> it with the complete machine-readable source code, or information
> about where the source code can be obtained.
OK.
> 5. You may incorporate the Codec into a Larger Work and distribute
> that Larger Work under terms of your choice, provided that:
>
> a. The terms permit modification of the work for the customer's own
> use and reverse engineering for debugging such modifications.
>
> b. The terms are consistent with the limitations on use described in
> Section 1.
Since #1 isn't DFSG-compliant, this isn't either.
> 6. Any Codec or Larger Works created by you must conform to the
> MPEG-4 Video Standard.
This is really badly worded. It prevents me from using their code in
an MPEG2 tool, for instance. Note that this notice is due to their using
the MoMuSys MPEG4 codec (from which they removed all copyright notices).
> 7. You must receive prior express written permission from Project
> Mayo before you use the names "DivX;-)", "DivX" or "Project Mayo" (or
> any names incorporating those names) or the file extensions ".divx"
> or ".div" to promote or endorse products derived from the Codec,
> including, but not limited to Larger Works.
Some trademark BS that is probably DFSG-compliant but is still
annoying. I have a doubt about how enforcable the file extension stuff
is. They want credit for their code, but they don't want us to use their
name.
Sam.
--
Samuel Hocevar <sam@zoy.org> <http://sam.zoy.org/>
for DVDs in Linux screw the MPAA and ; do dig $DVDs.z.zoy.org ; done | \
perl -ne 's/\.//g; print pack("H224",$1) if(/^x([^z]*)/)' | gunzip
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