Re: Open Card Consortium Source License - DFSG free?

[Walter Landry <wlandry@ucsd.edu>]

Ben Pfaff <blp@cs.stanford.edu> wrote:
> I'm thinking about packaging the Java-based Open Card Framework
> for use in accessing "smart cards".  It's freely available from
> www.opencard.org.  I'm using it with a Java-based iButton
> (www.ibutton.org).  The license is enclosed below, unchanged
> except for formatting to fit within standard email margins.  
>
> Does anyone see a reason why it is not DFSG-free?  The paragraph
> that bothers me the most is the one at the end of clause 3:
> 
>     Each Contributor agrees to provide condensed summaries of its
>     Contributions to OCC periodically, from time to time on a
>     schedule decided solely by Contributor, either with or
>     without copies of the Program as modified by such
>     Contributions.
> 
> I know that we've rejected mandatory notification clauses before,
> but this one seems particularly flexible given that the schedule
> is "decided solely by Contributor", and I'm not sure whether it
> would still be a problem.  Comments?

It may be impossible for people to make any notifications.  Certain
uses may preclude it, like making nuclear bombs, running a terrorist
network, or hacking on a desert island.

Also, there is a section on patent litigation that basically says that
you can't sure any contributor for patent infringment.  I recall a
discussion about this previously, but I don't remember whether that
was ok.  Debian generally ignores patent issues, so it is probably ok.

There is a choice of law clause, which should be fine.  Having to
waive a jury trial is odd, but is still probably ok.

Finally, does this work with the free java VM's like kaffe or gcj?  If
it only works with the official VM's, then it will have to at least go
into contrib.

Regards,
Walter Landry
wlandry@ucsd.edu


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