Re: Question about using Gnumeric ssconvert

[Steven D'Aprano <steve pearwood info>]

Hello,

I am not one of the official Gnome developers, but I work with a lot of
Open Source software and perhaps my experience will be helpful.

If you are merely using the ssconvert software in your own internal 
project, without linking to it in your own code, then you don't need to 
do anything. You only need to provide a copy of the source code and 
licence when you make copies of the ssconvert software and distribute 
those copies.

If you do copy the ssconvert software and distribute the copies, then 
you must follow the licence agreement, otherwise you are in breach of 
your licence, which will make that copyright infringement. Especially in 
the case of commercial software, the copyright holders (The Free 
Software Foundation) will likely take action to enforce the licence.

(Just because the software is Open Source and free, does not mean people 
can ignore the licence terms.)

If you are copying the ssconvert software into your own source code, 
then again you must obey the licence as soon as you distribute it to 
others. The GPL licence includes the requirement that your entire 
application is also licenced as GPL (with some exceptions).

If those exceptions do not apply, but you do not wish to licence your 
application as GPL, then you have some options, including:

- ask for a dedicated commercial licence (possibly in return for a fee);

- find a way to call the ssconvert software, without copying the code or 
linking to it into your application, that meets the exceptions in the 
GPL;

- re-write the functionality yourself, without copying or looking at the 
ssconvert source code (no copyright infringement);

- purchase a commercial licence for equivalent software from another 
vendor, and obey their licence terms;

- or do without the functionality.


If you have not already done so, you should read the FSF's Frequently 
Asked Questions.

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html


If you are planning on selling your software, you should ensure that you 
have a lawyer who is familiar with the GPL check that you are not 
breaching the licence conditions and infringing copyright.

Thank you for asking, and hopefully my answers will be more helpful than 
confusing.


Steve






On Wed, Mar 14, 2018 at 01:46:48AM +0000, Radhika Das Chakraborty wrote:
> Dear Gnome developer,
>
> I am Radhika from the technology transfer office of National University of Singapore, and I am writing 
> regarding the use of your software " Gnumeric ssconvert" by our research scientists Dr. Lai Poh San and 
> team. Our scientists have used the code in their own integrated computational software for clinical 
> annotation, prioritization and classification of sequence variants for their own research. We would also 
> like to provide this new computational software to our partner National University Hospital for them to use 
> this for internal research purposes. In this regard, I was wondering what permissions we would need from 
> you for this transfer? I understand that gnumeric ssconvert was created by the Gnome Foundation, and the 
> License Agreement is as follows: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnumeric/stable/index-info.html.en, which 
> follows the GNU License: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.html. Would we need to append the GNU license 
> agreement for our proposed transfer or provide any specific attributions?
>
> Thanks very much for letting me know if there are any specific procedures we need to follow. I look forward 
> to hearing from you, and please let me know if you have any specific questions for me.
> Best wishes,
> Radhika
>
>
> Radhika Das Chakraborty, PhD
> Manager, Industry Liaison Office
> National University of Singapore
> 21 Heng Mui Keng Terrace, I-3 (Cube) Buiding, Level 5, Singapore 119613
> +65-6601 2768<tel:+65-6601%202798> (DID)  +65-6777 6990<tel:+65-6777%206990> (Fax) +65 
> 9230<tel:+65%209272%200052> 8726 (M)
> radhika nus edu<mailto:radhika nus edu>.sg<x-apple-msg-load://28EB0C90-6581-480E-B2C1-B567C2F3E19B/sean 
> flanigan nus edu sg>