Re: [Hamlib-developer] Suse Id's

[Nate B. <n0...@ne...>]

On Mon, Jan 08, 2001 at 09:09:37PM -0600, Frank Singleton wrote:
> 
> On another issue...
> 
> What is the possibility of getting permission from kenwood/yaesu/icom
> etc to keep a electronic copy of their rig control docs
> on our project (web) page?

Hmmm, this caused a bunch of thought (not good!).

If the docs in question are produced in electronic form and produced by
the manufacturer (say a .pdf), then permission is likely necessary.  If,
on the other hand, we're talking about needing permission to transcribe
the commands and their parameters from the rig docs into a format of our
own electronic design, then I think we have a problem.

I am not a lawyer or GPL expert, but if we'd need permission to post a
transcription of what exists in hamlib source code, then we could be in
a very gray area with regard to the GPL.  If a manufacturer requires NDA
or permission (which to my knowledge none of them do once the radio is on
the market) to use the command set, then that radio probably cannot be
supported by hamlib.

Even though the manuals themselves are probably published under
copyright (in fact I could find no specific copyright information on my
Yaesu FT-890 manual), the command API is likely considered to be public
information.  Even under the terms of fair use we can utilize the
information in the manual to control the radios and publish what we've
done to the web or in the hamlib docs.

Likewise, even though the commands are used in a GPL'ed program, there
is no guarantee that someone won't read the source and use the command
sets in a proprietary program.  We can't prevent that from happening,
common information isn't controlled by the GPL.  What is controlled is
someone copying and pasting hamlib code into a program that is incompatible
with the GPL (I'm probably not as clear on all this as I think I am).

To summarize, since the rig commands are specific to the controlled
device, they are public knowledge.  Since they are public knowledge (as
the manuals say nothing about preventing the command information from
being disclosed), permission should be necessary to publish the command
sets in documentation of our creation so long as its clear that those
commands are a designed part of the radio, and not an original work of
the hamlib authors.

So far much software has been written to control radios, both
proprietary and free and I know of no case where a manufacturer raised
an issue with regard to use of the radio command sets as they cannot be
considered trade secrets either.

> This means people without those docs could contribute code also.
> Good PR for these companies also :^)

This would be a good thing to use the web space for...

73, de Nate >>

-- 
 Wireless | Amateur Radio Station N0NB          | "None can love freedom
 Internet | n0...@ne...               | heartily, but good
 Location | Wichita, Kansas USA EM17hs          | men; the rest love not
   Wichita area exams; ham radio; Linux info @  | freedom, but license."
             http://www.qsl.net/n0nb/           | -- John Milton