search

analogdevicesinc / TMC-API

TRINAMIC's IC API
MIT License
187 stars 82 forks source link

License Clarification #59

Open DaAwesomeP opened 2 months ago

DaAwesomeP commented 2 months ago

Hello,

This repo appears to have an MIT license, but some files contain text like the following: https://github.com/analogdevicesinc/TMC-API/blob/9dbaf83d433b3bb63b784249f716c685e4c4aced/tmc/ic/TMC5240/TMC5240_Fields.h#L1-L7

Surely it isn't confidential because it is on GitHub, and this text also contradicts the MIT license. May these files be updated to reflect the correct licensing?

Thanks!

trinamic-ed commented 2 months ago

Hello,

you are pointing to the copyright which is inside all files. The license is located here and valid for all files.

this text also contradicts the MIT license. May these files be updated to reflect the correct licensing?

How should it look like from your view?

Regards, Enrico

trinamic-ed commented 2 months ago

But thanks for pointing to the copyright info, I will check back with our open source team!

trinamic-ed commented 2 months ago

We will remove the "and confidential" in all the files in the next days.

DaAwesomeP commented 2 months ago

How should it look like from your view?

I'm not a lawyer, but the copyright notice here as written is more than just a copyright notice here. Obviously, "confidential" should be removed. But "proprietary" is also contradictory. The MIT license says:

"without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so..."

The MIT license says "without limitation" and "to deal in the Software without restriction," but "proprietary" means that all rights and ownership are exclusive to the owner. This is different than "all rights reserved" which means that they are reserved until granted and not exclusive to the owner. They are then granted by the MIT license.

An MIT license-compatible copyright notice would simply be: "Copyright (c) 2023 Analog Devices, Inc. All rights reserved."