Re: A bunch of questions: buildd, chm, build dependencies, software patent issue

[Charles Plessy <plessy@debian.org>]

Le Sun, Oct 26, 2008 at 03:24:22PM +0100, Jose Luis Blanco a écrit :
> 
>     This software for the detection of invariant keypoints is being made
>     available for individual research use only.  Any commercial use or any
>     redistribution of this software requires a license from the University
>     of British Columbia.

Dear Jose,

this license actually clearly forbid redistribution of the program if one does
not obtain a commercial licence. Debian can not redistribute it, even in the
non-free section of its archive.

If you really feel like packaging it, you can contact the authors and/or the
copyright holder to obtain a relicencing or an exemption for Debian that would
make it suitable for a redistribution in "non-free".

But even in that case, I would advise avoiding using this software without a
proper IP agreement, even for research: one may become unable to commercially
exploit any discovery made with the patented method. And there is at least on
precedent where doing non-profit research was considered commercial
exploitation as it can help to attract sutdents who pay to enter the
university.

Have a nice day,

-- 
Charles Plessy
Tsurumi, Kanagawa, Japan