Re: [Discuss-gnuradio] GNURadio : GPL use cases

[Ben Hilburn]

Hi Fabian -

Sorry I didn't see your question a couple of days ago! Martin's response is good. If you are not conveying GPL software outside of your company, then you have no obligations and can do what you wish. If you are conveying a product with GPL software to customers, then you are obligated to provide your customer the source to the GPL software in that product.

If you have further general questions, I'm happy to answer them. Realistically, though, as Martin said, copyright law is different in every country, and I have no familiarity with the French system. If you are building a product with GPL'd software and have questions, we recommend that you consult an IP attorney familiar with the copyright law in your country.

I hope that helps!

Cheers,

Ben

On Wed, Apr 4, 2018 at 5:32 PM, Martin Braun <address@hidden> wrote:

On 04/03/2018 06:15 AM, MARCHAND Fabien wrote:
> In a professionnal context, I want to use GNURadio in 2 cases :
>
> -          Work bench : for internally use in a internally developed
> software, to test some hardware for example.
>
> -          Embedded : I think about having GNURadio embedded in hardware
> which will be sold to customers, and be called by the same software
> developed internally
>
>  
>
> In those 2 cases, I have a doubt concerning the license. Does it force
> us to distribute our software code in none/one/all of those cases ?

Fabien,

I'm not a lawyer, and you can't use the mailing list for binding legal
advice, especially across jurisdictions (France might be different from
the USA, for example). However, there's some comparisons that can be
drawn to other commercial entities using GNU Radio:

- If you're using GNU Radio internally on your work benches, you can do
whatever you want (i.e., if no code or binaries leave your company).

- As for your embedded devices, there are many embedded devices that
have GPL'd software (like, most routers and many TV set top boxes), and
the legalities over those have been pretty much hashed out. You can look
up some of the rulings and see if they apply to you.
  One thing to keep in mind is that if you write software that links
against GNU Radio, your software is itself GPL. That doesn't mean your
customer's software has to be GPL, e.g., if it calls into your
application through some network interface. Of course, you will need to
provide source codes for all GPL components (this is not a GNU Radio
specific thing) upon request to anyone who is buying your embedded device.

Like I said, GPL software usage is well understood, and all those rules
apply to GNU Radio as well. I would encourage you to look around for
other GPL-related license interpretations.

-- Martin

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