Permissions

[CalamityJane99]

Hi:

I have prepared a manuscript for a book "Photographing Galaxies from Light Polluted Skies" for Springer. This is a how-to book showing methods of performing such photography.

The publisher requires me to obtain permission to show screenshots of GraXpert in action. How do I obtain such permission, please?

Thank you. Jane Clark.

Hallo:

Ich habe ein Manuskript für ein Buch mit dem Titel „Galaxien aus lichtverschmutzten Himmeln fotografieren“ für Springer vorbereitet. Dies ist ein Anleitungsbuch, das Methoden zur Durchführung solcher Fotografien zeigt.

Der Verlag verlangt von mir eine Genehmigung, um Screenshots von GraXpert in Aktion zu zeigen. Wie erhalte ich diese Genehmigung bitte?

Vielen Dank. Jane Clark.

[schmelly]

Hi Jane,

I am not a laywer or an expert on open source software licenses. However, in my understanding you have the copyright on screenshots you create. From this perspective I believe there is no reason to give you permission, i.e., just use them?

Best regards David

[CalamityJane99]

Thank you David. I need to submit a document to the publisher. I think they are nervous because AI is a new legal problem to them, and there isn't yet much case law they can fall back on. Are you someone in a position of authority in the GraXpert world?

Regards,

Jane.

[schmelly]

Hi Jane,

I am one of GraXpert's committers - in the end it's a community project. I see and understand where you are coming from.

• we release GraXpert (i.e., the application + source code) under GPL-3 [1]. Formally, our licensees (i.e., end users typically) are thereby allowed to sublicense (derivatives of) GraXpert (i.e., the application and source code) under the same conditions.
• we release GraXpert's ai models under CC-BY-NC-SA [2]. Formally, our licensess (i.e., end users typically) are thereby allowed to sublicense (derivatives of) GraXpert's ai models under the same conditions.

Basically your request now boils down to the following question: is an image that you process with GraXpert a derivative of either the GraXpert application (if yes, this would fall under GPL-3) or of one of the ai models (if yes, this would fall under CC-BY-NC-SA) - in my understanding it is not but again, I am not a lawyer (if this would be the case this would imply that any evaluation result produced by any open source tool ever would have to be licensed via the original license again which for me sounds 1) wrong and 2) not relevant in pratice anyway).

Personally I do not see any issue why you shouldn't be able to publish your own screenshots of your own astro images to Springer since in my understanding you have the full copyright on those.

Best regards David

[1] https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html [2] https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/?ref=chooser-v1