Re: sift and blimps license interpretation - can Debian redistribute these?
Hi Laszlo,
I'm forewarding this to debian-legal list [keeping
debian-med-packaging@lists.alioth.debian.org in CC would be great]
because I do not feel fully competent for this question.
However, I think in any case it is worth trying to educate authors about
the advantages of a free license. We had some successful and also some
unsuccessful trials here on this list. If you are writing like "I'm
writing you on behalf of the Debian Med team ..." (you will find this
string in the list archive when seeking for it) this could have at least
one positive effect that upstream is learning about our project and
might change their mind over time.
Kind regards
Andreas.
----- Forwarded message from Laszlo Kajan <lkajan@rostlab.org> -----
Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 12:23:07 +0100
From: Laszlo Kajan <lkajan@rostlab.org>
To: Debian Med Packaging Team <debian-med-packaging@lists.alioth.debian.org>,
Tim Booth <tbooth@ceh.ac.uk>, "H. Soon Gweon" <soonio@gmail.com>
Subject: sift and blimps license interpretation - can Debian redistribute these?
Dear fellow packagers!
I am not certain about the interpretation of the attached sift/blimps license (ftp://ftp.ncbi.nih.gov/repository/blocks/unix/blimps/LICENSE - I
am packaging these right now). The license is not free that's for sure, but:
* Can Debian redistribute it at all? - in other words: can we have sift and blimps in non-free?
This seems to be the relevant bit:
> 2. [...] b. Licensee may not charge any fee or royalty for copies
> of the Program or Derivative Work. Licensee is authorized to
> sublicense the Program and any Derivative Work to third parties on a
> royalty-free basis subject to the terms of this license but may not
> otherwise distribute the Program or any Derivative Work.
> Notwithstanding the foregoing, Licensee may be reimbursed for any
> actual expenses it incurs in reproducing or delivering a copy of the
> Program or any Derivative Work.
Is redistribution 'sublicensing'? Debian does redistribution on a 'royalty-free basis', so my judgement is that Debian is allowed to
redistribute sift/blimps.
If Debian is not allowed to redistribute it, probably neither is Ubuntu or Biolinux.
Thank you for your help in advance!
Best,
Laszlo
Thank you for your interest in licensing SIFT and the
Blimps searching programs. These files and programs are copyrighted by
the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and are made freely available
for noncommercial use. We cannot provide any support for them beyond what
we do to maintain them for our research. However, we would appreciate
being informed of how they are being used.
FHCRC currently has no policy regarding commercial use of SIFT
and Blimps, although they may have in the future. So commercial users
may use them now under the noncommercial license.
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