Hello debian-legal, I've got some questions about the legal status of a small portion of a package I'm working on, libconcurrency-java (containing the java package EDU.oswego.cs.dl.util.concurrent). The upstream author, Doug Lea has put all of his code into the public domain. However, a few of the files have statements like this one (from the file ConcurrentHashMap.java):
Written by Doug Lea. Adapted from JDK1.2 HashMap.java and Hashtable.java
which carries the following copyright:
* Copyright 1997 by Sun Microsystems, Inc.,
* 901 San Antonio Road, Palo Alto, California, 94303, U.S.A.
* All rights reserved.
*
* This software is the confidential and proprietary information
* of Sun Microsystems, Inc. ("Confidential Information"). You
* shall not disclose such Confidential Information and shall use
* it only in accordance with the terms of the license agreement
* you entered into with Sun.
I wrote Prof. Lea and asked if he has permission to distribute these
classes, and how this permission might apply to Debian. He sent me
the text of a license he has signed with Sun:
On Mon, Sep 30, 2002 at 07:17:54PM -0400, Doug Lea wrote:
<snip my question>
> I think I'm OK. The permission agreement I signed says in its
> entirety (sorry that pasting from acroread doesn't preserve format)
>
> TECHNOLOGY LICENSE FROM SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. TO DOUG LEA Whereas
> Doug Lea desires to utilize certain Java Software technologies in the
> util.concurrent technology; and Whereas Sun Microsystems, Inc. ( Sun )
> desires that Doug Lea utilize certain Java Software technologies in
> the util.concurrent technology; Therefore the parties agree as
> follows. Java Software technologies means
> classes/java/util/ArrayList.java, and
> classes/java/util/HashMap.java. The Java Software technologies are
> Copyright (c) 1994-2001 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights
> reserved. Sun hereby grants Doug Lea a non-exclusive, worldwide,
> non-transferrable license to use and distribute the Java Software
> technologies as a part of a larger work in source and binary forms,
> with or without modification, provided that the following conditions
> are met: -Neither the name of or trademarks of Sun may be used to
> endorse or promote products derived from the Java Software technology
> without specific prior written permission. -Redistributions of source
> or binary code must be accompanied by the following notice and
> disclaimers: Portions copyright Sun Microsystems, Inc. Used with kind
> permission. This software is provided "AS IS," without a warranty of
> any kind. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND
> WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
> FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE HEREBY EXCLUDED. SUN
> MICROSYSTEMS, INC. AND ITS LICENSORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY
> DAMAGES SUFFERED BY LICENSEE AS A RESULT OF USING, MODIFYING OR
> DISTRIBUTING THE SOFTWARE OR ITS DERIVATIVES. IN NO EVENT WILL SUN
> MICROSYSTEMS, INC. OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE,
> PROFIT OR DATA, OR FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL,
> INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THE
> THEORY OF LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE
> SOFTWARE, EVEN IF SUN MICROSYSTEMS, INC. HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
> POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. You acknowledge that Software is not
> designed, licensed or intended for use in the design, construction,
> operation or maintenance of any nuclear facility. signed [Doug Lea]
> dated
I'm a bit concerned about the word "non-transferable" and the fact
that the license may grant permission to modify and/or distribute
to Doug Lea but not to third parties like Debian or even me as an
individual.
Do I need to get further clairification from Sun about this?
The package will already be going into contrib because several of the
classes depending on the Java2 Container API. I just don't want it
to be relegated to non-free (I'll remove the offending files before
doing that).
Anyway, thanks in advance for your advice!
--
Steven Barker [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Lunatic Asylum, n.:
The place where optimism most flourishes.
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