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argman / EAST

A tensorflow implementation of EAST text detector
GNU General Public License v3.0
3.03k stars 1.05k forks source link

why gpl 3 license? #300

Open sterbaker opened 5 years ago

sterbaker commented 5 years ago

Hi, I'm wondering why the license for this is under gpl 3 which prevents this code from being used in a lot of commercial software products. opencv is released under 3 clause bsd license, which is much less restrictive.

if you don't object, changing your implenentation to bsd-3-clause (a github default license) makes it much more reusable by other parties.

danuker commented 5 years ago

I am not a lawyer, but here is my interpretation.

I suspect the author may be willing to sell license exceptions. But you can still sell the software under GPL, just that you have to include the source code and build instructions in the sale.

However, merely allowing remote interaction with a software might not constitute "distribution" that falls under GPL, which means many business models are still available (SaaS for instance): https://resources.whitesourcesoftware.com/blog-whitesource/the-saas-loophole-in-gpl-open-source-licenses

Edit: Such remote interactions would be covered under the AGPL, which the author did not choose.