[PyKDE] [Issue N6078] allowed distribution methods - my apologies

[Peter Lipa]

> > > On Thursday 19 September 2002 5:41 pm, Greg Fortune wrote:
> > > > In reference to the discussion going on right now about licensing...
> > > > Yes, the qt dll can be distributed.
.......



To the PyKDE list:
I apologize for opening a can of worms wrt Qt-license issues with my remark
in a previous post. This was not my intent!

I studied the license agreement again - here is the relevant part:
----------QUOTE:
GENERAL TERMS THAT APPLY TO APPLICATIONS AND REDISTRIBUTABLES TTI

grants you a nonexclusive, royalty-free right to reproduce and

distribute the object code form of any portion of the Licensed Product

("Redistributables") for execution on any operating system of a type

listed in the License Certificate ("Platforms"). Copies of

Redistributables may only be distributed with and for the sole purpose

of executing Applications permitted under this License Agreement that

you have created using the Licensed Product. Under no circumstances

may any copies of Redistributables be distributed separately.

The license granted in this EULA for you to create your own

Applications and distribute them and the Redistributables (if any) to

your customers is subject to all of the following conditions: (i) all

copies of the Applications you create must bear a valid copyright

notice, either your own or the copyright notice that appears on the

Licensed Product; (ii) you may not remove or alter any copyright,

trademark or other proprietary rights notice contained in any portion

of the Licensed Product; (iii) Redistributables, if any, shall be

licensed to your customer "as is" (TTI MAKES NO WARRANTIES OR

REPRESENTATIONS VIS-A-VIS YOUR CUSTOMER WITH RESPECT TO

REDISTRIBUTABLES, AND TTI EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES

VIS-A-VIS YOUR CUSTOMER, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ORAL OR WRITTEN,

INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY

OR FITNESS FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE, WHETHER OR NOT TTI KNOWS, HAS

REASON TO KNOW, HAS BEEN ADVISED OR IS OTHERWISE AWARE OF SUCH

PURPOSE); (iv) you will indemnify and hold TTI, its related companies

and its suppliers, harmless from and against any claims or liabilities

arising out of the use, reproduction or distribution of your

Applications; (v) your Applications must be written using a licensed,

registered copy of the Licensed Product; (vi) your Applications must

add primary and substantial functionality to the Licensed Product;

(vii) your Applications may not pass on functionality which in any way

makes it possible for others to create Applications with the Software;

(viii) your Applications may not compete with the Licensed Product;

(ix)) you may not use TTI's or any of its suppliers' names, logos, or

trademarks to market your programs, except to state that your program

was written using the Licensed Product.

ENDQUOTE -------------------------------

 It clearly states that I CAN ship the runtime support qt-xxx.dll
with my work (for example: bode.exe + qwt.dll + qt-mt305.dll) as long as my
app does not
allow to create full Qt apps or competes with Qt (item (vii) and (viii)).

More precisely:
There's a clear difference between PyQwt and PyQt and I must point out that
I intended to ship a PyQwt app:
Qwt/PyQwt by itself "adds primary and substantial functionality to Qt" and
does
"not pass on functionality which in any way makes it possible for others to
create Applications with the Software (Qt)"
as long as I don't ship PyQt with it (for which the user must get/obey the
relevant licenses).

Things are different and more debateable for PyQt which clearly "competes
with" (and wins over) Qt itself (viii) and also allows to "create
Applications with the Software" (vii).

WRT PyQt licensing issues, I agree with Phil Thompson:

>> Or am I
>> obligated to include something in my license that says "While it's
possible
>> for you to be a bad person, please don't."

> I assume the latter because that's what Trolltech do. See their FAQ on
PyQt.
> My belief is that you are responsible for getting a committment from your
> customers (via an EULA) that ensures you can meet the committments you
have
> already made to Trolltech.

 and hope that Trolltech does too.

BTW, I have not seen any FAQ on PyQt by trolltech ... where can I find that
and/or what does it say?

Cheers
Peter Lipa
porl3141 at hotmail.com

PS: IMHO if a license agreement is formulated in such imprecise and
ambiguous terms (what is an "Application" in an interpeted environment? What
is "primary and substantial functionality to Qt"? Is sip and python "adding
substantial functionality to Qt"?) it leaves room for 'interpretation' and
the issuing company can not expect every licensee to arrive at the same
conclusion and subsequent use of the product. And then, the whole GPL/win32
issue raised by Greg Fortune? If they want consistent usage they ought to
write a clearer and unambiguous license agreement.