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RE: More NI License Problems
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From: <Bjo...@si...> - 2003-11-26 13:00:30
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Hmm, was forced to actually read the license agreement :-) There are two things here: 1.E "Authorized Applications." Means only those applications that: (i) you create with development versions of the SOFTWARE that you have validly licensed and (ii) which do not, as solely determined by NI, perform (by themselves or in combination with other products) the same or similar functions as (or are otherwise intended to replace or supplant any component of) the SOFTWARE or any other software of NI. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any application created with the SOFTWARE acquired under an evaluation license is not an Authorized Application. AND 3. Restrictions. You may not: (i) reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble the SOFTWARE (except to the extent such foregoing restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law); (ii) sub-license, lease, or rent the SOFTWARE; (iii) (other than as expressly permitted under this Agreement) distribute in whole or part, modify, or create derivatives of the SOFTWARE or applications created with the SOFTWARE; and (iv) directly or indirectly, export, re-export, download, or ship the SOFTWARE in violation of the laws and regulations of the U.S.A. and the laws and regulations of the applicable jurisdiction in which you use or are downloading the SOFTWARE. Under no circumstance is "floating" or shared use permitted under this Agreement. Nothing in this Agreement, however, is intended to prevent you from creating your own driver interface software for use with NI software and third party hardware; provided, however, that in doing so you do not modify or use (in whole or part) any of the driver interface SOFTWARE. What most people seem to forget or just not take into consideration is within the paranthesis in 3, which is a standard phrase on all license agreements: "except to the extent such foregoing restriction is expressly prohibited by applicable law"; The laws are in fact very clear on that point, and effectively make everything about reverse engineering, decompiling, or disassembling, as well as 1E irrelevant (if 1E is interpreted as "You are not allowed to create anything but Authorized applications"). The last sentence in 3 is also interesting. The license state what an Authorized application is and how an Authorized application is to be deployd (12). Not anywhere does it say that you are not allowed to make "unauthorized applications". In fact in (16) it say that NI shall defend at its own expense any claims (infringements etc) resulting from your use of the software as long as the applications you have made are in fact "Authorized application", if not, you are on your own. So, my (correct or wrong) interpretation is simply that if you write "Authorized Applications" as defined in 1E, then NI will take care of any infringements claims on their behalf. However, if I should for instance use some OpenG subroutine for which equivalent subroutine exist from NI, then i'm on my own. Fees in connection with Autorized applications are defined in 12.B > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim Kring [mailto:ji...@ji...] > Sent: 26. november 2003 01:58 > To: ope...@li... > Subject: FW: More NI License Problems > > > Hello OpenG Developers, > > I just sent this email to the Info-LabVIEW mailing list. > This has many > implications for OpenG projects. I'm not yet sure what NI's > response is -- > we'll have to wait and see. > > -Jim > > -----Original Message----- > From: Jim Kring > Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 3:01 PM > To: 'info-labview' > Subject: More NI License Problems > > > Hello Info-LV'ers, > > For those of you who haven't read your NISLA (NATIONAL > INSTRUMENTS SOFTWARE > LICENSE AGREEMENT) lately, I suggest that you take a look. > The VISA Serial > issue (see thread: "Distributing built application with VISA > = Not free") is > only the tip of the iceberg, it seems. The definition of what is an > "Authorized Application" (the only type of application you > are allowed to > create, per the NISLA) has grown to exclude *ANY* > applications that compete > with *ANY* National Instruments software. This seems to > imply that if one > is developing a software product that NI finds valuable, it > would be well > within NI's rights to start development of a similar product > and then issue > the competitor a cease and desist order. This is very > troubling, in my > opinion, and seems to affect the rights of anyone who > distributes *ANY* > software written in LabVIEW, for sale or for free. > > Any thoughts? Please, someone at NI, tell me that I am wrong. > > Regards, > > -Jim Kring > > > Section 1 Part E of the NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS SOFTWARE LICENSE > AGREEMENT > > -- August 2001 (circa LabVIEW 6.1) -- > 1.E. "Authorized Applications." Means only those > applications that: (i) > you create with development versions of the SOFTWARE that you > have validly > licensed and (ii) are not in themselves general purpose tools > that permit > the development of applications to acquire, display, or analyze data. > ------------------------------------- > > -- April 2003 (circa LabVIEW 7.0) -- > 1.E. "Authorized Applications." Means only those > applications that: (i) > you create with development versions of the SOFTWARE that you > have validly > licensed and (ii) which do not, as solely determined by NI, > perform (by > themselves or in combination with other products) the same or similar > functions as (or are otherwise intended to replace or > supplant any component > of) the SOFTWARE or any other software of NI. Notwithstanding the > foregoing, any application created with the SOFTWARE acquired under an > evaluation license is not an Authorized Application. > ------------------------------------- > > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.net email is sponsored by: SF.net Giveback Program. > Does SourceForge.net help you be more productive? Does it > help you create better code? SHARE THE LOVE, and help us help > YOU! Click Here: http://sourceforge.net/donate/ > _______________________________________________ > OpenGToolkit-Developers mailing list > Ope...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/opengtoolkit-developers > |
