#35 Simon is not redistributable

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I think I've found a possible licensing problem with Simon; unless I'm missing something, it is not redistributable!

Julius's license includes a publicity clause:
«3. When you publish or present any results by using the Software, you
must explicitly mention your use of "Large Vocabulary Continuous
Speech Recognition Engine Julius".»

However, the GPL conflicts with this as it states:
« 6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the
Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the
original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to
these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further
restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein.»

This is basically the same problem as with the OpenSSL license (http://people.gnome.org/~markmc/openssl-and-the-gpl.html).

[Peter Grasch]

Thanks for checking.

Actually this is not such a big deal if I understood the page where you linked to correctly.

I can simply add the proposed exemption, right?

Julius is developed by a university so the reason for this clause is basically that it is mentioned in all research articles relating to it and that is something we always respected.

[RainCT (Siegfried Gevatter)]

Yup, if you add such an exception Simon should be fine.

> Julius is developed by a university so the reason for this clause is
> basically that it is mentioned in all research articles relating to it and
> that is something we always respected.

Well, I suppose that was their intention, but what the wording suggests to me is that if, for example, I'd use Julius as a dictation application to write a mail (one can dream ;)) I'd have to include "This text has been written using Large Vocabulary ...." in the message. Anyway, this is unrelated to this bug report.

[Peter Grasch]

I added an exemption formally allowing you to link to Julius to the simon license.

I also brought the issue up with the Julius developers on their forum (which I gather is more active than their sourceforge tracker):
http://julius.sourceforge.jp/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=644

Thanks for bringing this to my attention!

Regards,
Peter

[RainCT (Siegfried Gevatter)]

Thanks!

(By the way, I'm sorry if I scared you with the drastic title I gave the bug report ;)).