[R] ACM Software Copyright and License Agreement

[peter dalgaard]

On Feb 17, 2012, at 13:42 , Hans W Borchers wrote:

> peter dalgaard <pdalgd <at> gmail.com> writes:
> 
>> On Feb 16, 2012, at 12:31 , Hans W Borchers wrote:
>> 
>>> I have often seen the use of routines from the ACM Collected Algorithms,
>>> i.e. <netlib.org/toms/≥ (CALGO, or Trans. On Math. Software, TOMS), in
>>> Open Source programs, maybe also in some R packages --- and sometimes
>>> these programs are distributed under the GPL license, sometimes under
>>> proprietary licenses, e.g. in Scilab.
>>> 
>>> The use of these CALGO programs is subject to the ACM Software Copyright
>>> and License Agreement <www.acm.org/publications/policies/softwarecrnotice>
>>> which includes the following paragraph:
>>> 
>>>   **Commercial Use**
>>>   Any User wishing to make a commercial use of the Software must contact
>>>   ACM at permissions <at> acm.org to arrange an appropriate license.
>>>   Commercial use includes
>>>   (1) integrating or incorporating all or part of the source code into a
>>>   product for sale or license by, or on behalf of, User to third parties,
>>>   (2) distribution of the binary or source code to third parties for use
>>>   with a commercial product sold or licensed by, or on behalf of, User.
>>> 
>>> I assume that this license extension is not compatible with GPL, but may
>>> be wrong here. So my question is: Can software from the ACM Collected
>>> Algorithms be distributed under a GPL-compatible licence, and how to
>>> formulate and where to put such a license extension.
>> 
>> One needs to tread _really_ carefully with these items.
>> 
>> You plain can't claim that the ACM license is compatible with the GPL; it
>> just isn't. However, there are cases where software has been placed in the
>> Public Domain in addition to being published by an ACM Journal. E.g., the
>> NSWC (Naval Surface Warfare Center) library is in the Public Domain even
>> though some of its routines have been published in TOMS.
> 
> And how can I be sure that these algorithms have been rightly placed on the
> NSWC library page under a license different from its original ACM license?
> I am inclined to be quite suspicious about that.

Well, in the case I was thinking of, the code was developed by US government officials working for the US government, and as such not subjected to US Copyright. 

Also, the NSWC manual clearly says: "Since the beginning of the development of the library, no proprietary or otherwise restricted codes have been permitted in the library."  

(e.g., http://www.ualberta.ca/CNS/RESEARCH/Software/NumericalNSWC/nsws.pdf)

> 
> Best, Hans Werner
> 
>> However, I am not a lawyer, etc...
>> 
>> -pd
>> 
> 
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-- 
Peter Dalgaard, Professor
Center for Statistics, Copenhagen Business School
Solbjerg Plads 3, 2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark
Phone: (+45)38153501
Email: pd.mes at cbs.dk  Priv: PDalgd at gmail.com