Re: Java3D license incompatible with DFSG?
Ben Finney wrote:
But it's also plausible that the author of that statement is referring
to a license *from government* specific to design, construction,
operation or maintenance of nuclear facilities, and nothing to do with
copyright: the government does not license the recipient for these uses.
That seems quite implausible to me. The only license that is described
anywhere in the document is the software license that Sun might (or
might not) be granting to a third party.
The US government could perhaps, if they wanted, prohibit some software
from being used in nuclear facilities and such, but the US government
has no power to grant or not grant software licenses for software owned
by Sun.
If the clause really had something to do with the US government, it
would be identified as such, and if it had to do with the US government
controlling what is used in US nuclear facilities, it would have
specifically stated that, rather than being completely open-ended about
where the nuclear facilities are located. (The US generally wouldn't
have jurisdiction over what software was used in nuclear facilities in
other countries, e.g., France.)
If the US government somehow was involved in licensing software for use
in nuclear facilities, we would see this clause in all sorts of
software, rather than only in software licensed by Sun, and by other
parties that have copied the Sun license.
In any case, regardless of the intent, it is clear that it does state
that the software is not licensed for use in nuclear facilities. It
fails to meet the DFSG and OSD regardless of whether the clause was
written for Sun's benefit or at the behest of the US government.
Eric
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