[Fedora-packaging] License issue for all GIS related packages. [call for help]

[Tom "spot" Callaway]

On Tue, 2007-06-26 at 00:35 +0200, Balint Cristian wrote:
>    Pardon me if i mistake here, a _non_ lawyer point of view:
> 
>    Here arised in my mind that epsg tables ar not similar as PCI ID 
> plain only database, a new entry in that database need certain 
> certification and probaly very precise technical mesurments before it
> can 
> be validated and ratified. I dont think anyone can easy do this step, 
> like just PCI-ID ones. EPSG asummed this task to collect cand
> ertificate those 
> constants and projections in the past. The process is not an easy one
> as far 
> I understanded, but this is only the technical side. That could be
> olso the strong 
> reason to not let those constants to be altered in some way.
> 
>     Please correct me if i mistakenly miss understood that EPSG
> activity from 
> tech point of view. Just wanted make some comment over certain value
> of 
> database. 

I think that there are several good parallels here, the most obvious
seems to be that of the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL),
specifically section 4, which permits modification, but also describes
what you must do as the end result of modification.

Another good example is the Bitstream Font License. Bitstream wanted to
make their Fonts available for the Free Software community, and to
permit people to make derived fonts from Bitstream fonts, but they
didn't want people selling the fonts standalone, or referring to any
derived fonts as "Bitstream".

Here is their license, in its entirety:

======================

Copyright (c) 2003 by Bitstream, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Bitstream
Vera is a trademark of Bitstream, Inc. 

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of the fonts accompanying this license (“Fonts”) and associated
documentation files (the “Font Software”), to reproduce and distribute
the Font Software, including without limitation the rights to use, copy,
merge, publish, distribute, and/or sell copies of the Font Software, and
to permit persons to whom the Font Software is furnished to do so,
subject to the following conditions: 

The above copyright and trademark notices and this permission notice
shall be included in all copies of one or more of the Font Software
typefaces.

The Font Software may be modified, altered, or added to, and in
particular the designs of glyphs or characters in the Fonts may be
modified and additional glyphs or characters may be added to the Fonts,
only if the fonts are renamed to names not containing either the words
“Bitstream” or the word “Vera”.

This License becomes null and void to the extent applicable to Fonts or
Font Software that has been modified and is distributed under the
“Bitstream Vera” names. 

The Font Software may be sold as part of a larger software package but
no copy of one or more of the Font Software typefaces may be sold by
itself. 

THE FONT SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF
COPYRIGHT, PATENT, TRADEMARK, OR OTHER RIGHT. IN NO EVENT SHALL
BITSTREAM OR THE GNOME FOUNDATION BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR
OTHER LIABILITY, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE FONT
SOFTWARE OR FROM OTHER DEALINGS IN THE FONT SOFTWARE. 

Except as contained in this notice, the names of Gnome, the Gnome
Foundation, and Bitstream Inc., shall not be used in advertising or
otherwise to promote the sale, use or other dealings in this Font
Software without prior written authorization from the Gnome Foundation
or Bitstream Inc., respectively. For further information, contact: fonts
at gnome dot org. 

======================

So, to sum it up, here's what we would like to see:

The license needs to permit people to create derived works of the EPSG
dataset. Simply because we cannot fathom any possible derived works does
not mean that the right should be withheld. This is at the very heart of
open source and free software. However, it is perfectly acceptable to
say that those derived works may not call themselves the EPSG dataset.

If we can get that, we can include the EPSG dataset in Fedora. :)

~spot