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Date:      Tue, 14 Oct 2014 15:01:17 -0700
From:      Charles Swiger <cswiger@mac.com>
To:        Enrico Venezia <vbenrico87@gmail.com>
Cc:        questions@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: FreeBSD Advertising clause
Message-ID:  <D8E4712C-04F3-4D9F-8EB0-24681D399663@mac.com>
In-Reply-To: <CALa0bfgLrF7_HEzVT59Q8UN6LOAg8rkCBd4F2_aysMe1VH4biw@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <CALa0bfgLrF7_HEzVT59Q8UN6LOAg8rkCBd4F2_aysMe1VH4biw@mail.gmail.com>

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On Oct 14, 2014, at 2:32 PM, Enrico Venezia <vbenrico87@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I'm Enrico Venezia, I come across in FreeBSD.
> 
> I thought it's fantastic! I have only to mention the University of
> California for my project!
> 
> "3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
> must display the following acknowledgement:
> This product includes software developed by the University of California,
> Berkeley and its contributors."

That's clause 3 from the so-called "old BSD" license.  UC/Berkeley and most
other BSD contributors have waived it in favor of the 2-clause or new BSD license.

See: https://www.freebsd.org/copyright/license.html

> While I was working on the source code, I discovered that many other files
> was licensed by other authors.
> 
> Thare are about 300 files with this sentence "This product includes
> software developed by <different name from University of California,
> Berkeley>".
> 
> So my questions are (and I hope that you can help me):

If you want general feedback about common practices and community expectations, sure.

However, if you need specific legal advice, hire an attorney.

> - What mean advertising materials? Do I have to put 300 different sentences
> in every page of my website, manual pages, etc?

Not on each page, no.  And not for most of the software which is under the 2-clause license.

However, you do need to preserve notices for software under the
BSD 3-clause license once on your website, in the manual or README.

> - The 4-clause of the license says: "Neither the name of <name> nor the
> names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products
> derived from this software without specific prior written permission.". It
> is a violation of the clause writing "This product includes software
> developed by <name>"? I mean, can I write this sentence without specific
> prior writter permission from the author?

No, that would be a standard acknowledgement of origin.

The no-endorsement-clause restricts folks from claiming that UC/Berkeley,
the FreeBSD project, etc endorse your modified version of the software.

> - Does the main COPYRIGHT file overwrite other author licenses?

No.  But most FreeBSD contributors have agreed to use the 2-clause format.

Regards,
-- 
-Chuck




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