6:27 a.m.
Hi,
I have written some gretl scripts which I would like to publish, but it
seems like some parts of it are covered, or might be covered, by
patents. But I think I could publish the code with some strings
attached, i.e. only use in academia, no allowance to give code to
somebody else.
Now my question is, if it is possible to publish gretl script code under
my own terms, or whether gretl scripts are a derived work of gretl and
must be GPL licensed when they are distributed?
For example perl can be GPL licensed, too, but under
http://dev.perl.org/licenses/ the developers give the permission to
distribute perl code under a non-free license.
I didn't found any thread on this topic on the mailing-list, so if this
has already been discussed, I'm sorry?
Christoph
12:26 p.m.
On Thu, 13 Aug 2009, chris wrote:
I have written some gretl scripts which I would like to publish, but
it
seems like some parts of it are covered, or might be covered, by
patents. But I think I could publish the code with some strings
attached, i.e. only use in academia, no allowance to give code to
somebody else.
Now my question is, if it is possible to publish gretl script code under
my own terms, or whether gretl scripts are a derived work of gretl and
must be GPL licensed when they are distributed?
My initial feeling is that gretl scripts are not "derived works"
and therefore it would be acceptable for you to publish them under
a non-free license if you're worried about patent issues. But
this is not something that has come up before and I'd like to hear
others' views before setting a precedent.
I'll be offline for a few days, but should be able to respond
again on Monday.
Allin Cottrell
12:41 p.m.
On Thu, 13 Aug 2009, Allin Cottrell wrote:
On Thu, 13 Aug 2009, chris wrote:
> I have written some gretl scripts which I would like to publish, but it
> seems like some parts of it are covered, or might be covered, by
> patents. But I think I could publish the code with some strings
> attached, i.e. only use in academia, no allowance to give code to
> somebody else.
>
> Now my question is, if it is possible to publish gretl script code under
> my own terms, or whether gretl scripts are a derived work of gretl and
> must be GPL licensed when they are distributed?
My initial feeling is that gretl scripts are not "derived works"
and therefore it would be acceptable for you to publish them under
a non-free license if you're worried about patent issues. But
this is not something that has come up before and I'd like to hear
others' views before setting a precedent.
One further thought for now. This is distinct from the question
of principle that you raise. But gretl scripts are the embodiment
of algorithms and nothing more, so if a gretl script were to fall
foul of a patent presumably the patent would have to cover an
algorithm as such.
I know there has been a lot of insanity in software patenting
since the mid-1990s, but are you sure there's really a danger
here?
Allin.
2:54 p.m.
On 13-08-2009, at 08:27, chris wrote:
Hi,
I have written some gretl scripts which I would like to publish, but
it seems like some parts of it are covered, or might be covered, by
patents. But I think I could publish the code with some strings
attached, i.e. only use in academia, no allowance to give code to
somebody else.
Now my question is, if it is possible to publish gretl script code
under my own terms, or whether gretl scripts are a derived work of
gretl and must be GPL licensed when they are distributed?
For example perl can be GPL licensed, too, but under http://dev.perl.org/licenses/
the developers give the permission to distribute perl code under a
non-free license.
I didn't found any thread on this topic on the mailing-list, so if
this has already been discussed, I'm sorry?
Could you let us see the parts you think are covered?
Which specific patents are you worried about?
Berend
5689
days inactive
5689
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3 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
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Allin Cottrell -
Berend Hasselman -
chris