Achim Lörke schrieb:
On Wed, 16 Apr 2008 10:18:37 +0200, Jörg von Frantzius
<joerg.von.frantzius@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Doug Schaefer schrieb:
If there is a question, then no corporate lawyer would allow such a
release. So, yes, even if a Qt port existed, I'm pretty sure none of
the SWT committers would be allowed by their employer to work on it
because of the legal implications.
I doubt there would be legal implications if the Qt port was released
under the EPL. There would be legal implications if anybody sold a
commercial product on top of it, without paying Trolltech.
The EPL allows everyone to sell a (even closed source) product based
on Eclipse technology. So every part used throughout Eclipse must be
licensed this way.
EPL says:
"b)
Subject to the terms of this Agreement, each Contributor hereby
grants
Recipient a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free
patent license under Licensed Patents to make, use, sell, offer to
sell, import
and otherwise transfer the Contribution of such Contributor, if any, in
source
code and object code form
The Contributor could here e.g. be IBM, assuming they contribute a Qt
port. To me this sounds like the Contributor himself must not be able
to hinder anyone from selling the contribution in any form, i.e. the
Recipients rights cannot be restricted by Contributor's claims.
It does not state that Recipient must not be bound to other
restrictions set forth somewhere else for using the Contribution.
I'd still think that IBM could release a Qt port under EPL, with
anybody wanting to sell it additionally being bound to Trolltech's
terms:
"2) The right to link non-Open Source
applications with
pre-installed versions of the Licensed Software: You may link
applications with binary pre-installed versions of the Licensed
Software, provided that such applications have been developed and are
deployed in accordance in accordance with the terms and conditions of
the Qt Commercial License
Agreement."
Trolltech's terms would be binding only as soon as the Contribution
leaves the OpenSource-space, so to say, with that space explicitly
being extended from what GPL covers to what EPL covers. IBM would be
kind of "passing through" those obligations for commercial use. In the
commercial space, IBM would of course themselves be bound to
Trolltech's terms as anybody else for their commercial offerings.
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