Diebold and PES Sued for Stealing...
... Code?
A California software company has filed a lawsuit against Diebold and its subsidiary, Premier Election Solutions, claiming that PES' electronic voting machines violate its copyrights.
Artifex Software, of San Rafael, Calif., claims that PES systems infringe on its copyrighted Ghostscript PDF interpretation and printing software. Artifex claims PES is using Ghostscript in its electronic election systems even though Diebold and PES "have not been granted a license to modify, copy, or distribute any of Artifex's copyrighted works," Artifex claims in court papers filed late last month in U.S. District Court for Northern California.
Why is this important?
Obtaining GNU Ghostscript
GNU Ghostscript is a copyrighted work; it is distributed under the GNU General Public License. You can get the current version of GNU Ghostscript by Internet FTP from ftp.gnu.org/gnu/ghostscript from any of the GNU distribution sites; likely, alpha versions may be available on alpha.gnu.org/gnu/ghostscript.
As (h/t) lambert at Corrente pointed out, under GNU General Public Licensing, if Diebold and PES used Ghostscript to create their product they may be legally bound to make their product's code open for our inspection, as well.
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. The GPL is the most popular and well-known example of the type of strong copyleft license that requires derived works to be available under the same copyleft. Under this philosophy, the GPL grants the recipients of a computer program the rights of the free software definition and uses copyleft to ensure the freedoms are preserved, even when the work is changed or added to. This is in distinction to permissive free software licences, of which the BSD licences are the standard examples.
Heck! We may be legally able take and modify Diebold code if it is true.
Ghostscript is a copyrighted work whose copyright is owned by Artifex Software, Inc. Some versions of Ghostscript are distributed freely under the name GPL Ghostscript or (for older versions) GNU Ghostscript; these versions are distributed with a license called the GNU General Public License (also known as the "GNU License", the "GPL", or "copyleft"), which allows gratis and commercial distribution under certain conditions, most particularly, source complete source disclosure.
Versions of Ghostscript between version 4.03 and 8.54 were also distributed under a more restrictive license disallowing commercial redistribution entirely. These versions were labelled "AFPL Ghostsript" or just "Ghostscript", and were governed by the Aladdin Free Public License.
The full GPL is included under the name COPYING in the GPL Ghostscript fileset, and can also be obtained directly from the Free Software Foundation:
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF)
59 Temple Place, Suite 330
Boston, MA 02111-1307 U.S.A.
+1-617-542-5942 telephone
+1-617-542-2652 fax (including Japan):
gnu@gnu.org
http://www.gnu.org/The GPL gotten directly from the FSF or the contents of the COPYING file are authoritative, but for those unfamiliar with the GPL, we now summarize its provisions.
Read More on Artifex Software, Inc. licensing of Ghostscript. What licensing rules apply may depend on the version that Diebold and PES allegedly stole.
Comments
Connecticut Man1
March 4, 2009 - 09:54
Permalink
Edited to add more info
on licensing from Artifex Software, Inc.'s Ghostscript license, since it may or may not be as open source as we hope.
[update] The Aladdin Free Public License that MAY apply to the case:
-----------------------------------
"Aladdin Free Public License
(Version 8, November 18, 1999)
Copyright (C) 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999 Aladdin Enterprises,
Menlo Park, California, U.S.A. All rights reserved.
Aladdin Enterprises hereby grants to anyone the permission to apply this License to their own work, as long as the entire License (including the above notices and this paragraph) is copied with no changes, additions, or deletions except for changing the first paragraph of Section 0 to include a suitable description of the work to which the license is being applied and of the person or entity that holds the copyright in the work, and, if the License is being applied to a work created in a country other than the United States, replacing the first paragraph of Section 6 with an appropriate reference to the laws of the appropriate country.
0. Subject Matter
This License applies to the computer program known as "Aladdin Ghostscript." The "Program", below, refers to such program. The Program is a copyrighted work whose copyright is held by Aladdin Enterprises (the "Licensor"). Please note that Aladdin Ghostscript is neither the program known as "GNU Ghostscript" nor the version of Ghostscript available for commercial licensing from Artifex Software Inc.
A "work based on the Program" means either the Program or any derivative work of the Program, as defined in the United States Copyright Act of 1976, such as a translation or a modification.
BY MODIFYING OR DISTRIBUTING THE PROGRAM (OR ANY WORK BASED ON THE PROGRAM), YOU INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS LICENSE TO DO SO, AND ALL ITS TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTING OR MODIFYING THE PROGRAM OR WORKS BASED ON IT. NOTHING OTHER THAN THIS LICENSE GRANTS YOU PERMISSION TO MODIFY OR DISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM OR ITS DERIVATIVE WORKS. THESE ACTIONS ARE PROHIBITED BY LAW. IF YOU DO NOT ACCEPT THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, DO NOT MODIFY OR DISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM.
1. Licenses.
Licensor hereby grants you the following rights, provided that you comply with all of the restrictions set forth in this License and provided, further, that you distribute an unmodified copy of this License with the Program:
2. Restrictions.
This license is subject to the following restrictions:
If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering the equivalent ability to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent ability to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source code along with the object code.
3. Reservation of Rights.
No rights are granted to the Program except as expressly set forth herein. You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License. However, parties who have received copies, or rights, from you under this License will not have their licenses terminated so long as such parties remain in full compliance.
4. Other Restrictions.
If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in certain countries for any reason, Licensor may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
5. Limitations.
THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED TO YOU "AS IS," WITHOUT WARRANTY. THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL LICENSOR, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
6. General.
This License is governed by the laws of the State of California, U.S.A., excluding choice of law rules.
If any part of this License is found to be in conflict with the law, that part shall be interpreted in its broadest meaning consistent with the law, and no other parts of the License shall be affected.
For United States Government users, the Program is provided with RESTRICTED RIGHTS. If you are a unit or agency of the United States Government or are acquiring the Program for any such unit or agency, the following apply:
I am not a lawyer so it may take me a few minutes to figure out if it would still be open source like under these rules? lol