[Freegis-list] ERMapper ECW License problematic

[Jan-Oliver Wagner]

Hi Tom,

On Wednesday 27 September 2006 01:47, Tom Lynch wrote:
> Just to clarify, the Public Use License Agreement for ER Mapper's ECW and
> JPEG 2000 codecs and the related SDK is not the same as the GPL.  It's
> described as "GPL-style" to make it clear to potential licensees that it
> carries a copyleft restriction for anyone wanting to distribute software
> that uses it.
> It is true, and somewhat unfortunate, that it does not conform to the FSF's
> guidelines for "free" software.  This is something that comes under regular
> review at ER Mapper.  We could, for the most part, transfer the license to a
> straight GPL dual license, but we are somewhat concerned that the ECW format
> might be modified by third parties, creating format compatibility problems.

as I wrote in my initial email, this is understood and not the actual question.

The question is: Is it legal to link ECW with a LGPL (or similar) licensed software?
My opinion is no, because of the described contractiction.

If your answer to my question is yes, what is your comment on the contradiction?
I'd really appreciate a official statement from ERMapper if that is possible.

I do not ask out of simple curiosity - we have a commercial(!) Free Software development
project which faces uncalculatable legal risks due to ECW license.

> Also, the SDK is a commercial product and its main focus is still commercial
> licensing.

Free Software is also commercial. Please don't oppose Free Software and Commercial Software.
The opponents are Free Software and Proprietary Software.  Both can either be gratis
or commercial.

> If anyone has further questions about the SDK's licensing, please fire away
> :-)

done :-)

Best

	Jan
-- 
Jan-Oliver Wagner: www.intevation.de/~jan  | GISpatcher: www.gispatcher.de
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