From kde-licensing  Thu Jun 04 11:25:32 2009
From: Akarsh Simha <akarshsimha () gmail ! com>
Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2009 11:25:32 +0000
To: kde-licensing
Subject: Re: Licensing question about data for KStars
Message-Id: <20090604111332.GF4974 () PINGU>
X-MARC-Message: https://marc.info/?l=kde-licensing&m=124411408510054

Hi Jonathan

> > I got a response saying: "I have no problem with you using the SAC
> > data for the Kstars program.  It was released with the rules that it
> > is not sold as a seperate item." There have been other instances where
> > the redistribution under GPL has been permitted (See
> > http://www.freelists.org/post/sac-board/Permission-Request,5 for
> > instance)
> > 
> > 1. Is this permission sufficient, or is something more required to
> >    redistribute the data
> 
> They seem unclear on their own copying licence terms.  Some of the say
> "public domain" which is great.  Others say "no commercial use" which
> is not but the final message in the thread indicates this isn't the
> actual case.
> 
> So the licence seems to be unrestricted use with acknowledgement,
> which is fine for KDE.

Sounds good. I included a patched catalog (made of their catalog and
KStars' old GPL licensed catalog) and released it under GPL with the
editor of the SAC catalog as one of the copyright holders. I also
mentioned that the data is used / released under GPL with permission.

> I'd recommend writing to them (again) to clarify though and maybe
> convince them to use the GPL directly, let me know if you want my help
> on a good phrase to send them.

It looks like they aren't much worried about licensing :). I'll write
them a mail recommending this.

> > 3. I also used the HyperLeda database, which is used primarily for
> >    research purposes. They expect an acknowledgement in the following
> >    manner:
> >    http://leda.univ-lyon1.fr/acknowledge.html
> >    However, they do not specify any licensing terms. Would it be
> >    appropriate to use their data in KStars?
> 
> I don't see a download link for anything there, what actually gets
> included?  It seems reasonable to infer that the intent is public
> domain with attribution but I would e-mail them to check.

The results of queries on their database is what I'd like to
include. HyperLEDA is one of the scientifically accepted standard
sources for data on astronomical objects. So their 'Acknowledgement'
policy mostly deals with use of the data in a scientific paper, for
example.

I tried sending them a mail, but didn't get any response. What I
wanted to know is - how will such a policy for scientific papers carry
through to software? Or will it carry through at all?

Regards
Akarsh
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