[directory-discuss] Proposed antifeature for MuPDF due to commercial permissive license

[David Hedlund]

Should muPDF (https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Mupdf) be placed under https://directory.fsf.org/wiki/Free_Software_Directory:Antifeatures#Bait_and_surrender ?

https://mupdf.com/ says 

License

Licensing is handled by Artifex Software Inc.

http://www.artifex.com/page/licensing-information.html 

that says

• COMMERCIAL LICENSE

  (Artifex Ghostscript and Artifex MuPDF)

  THE BASICS

  A commercial license is required if your application (including source code) is NOT licensed to the public under the GNU AGPL and

  • you intend to distribute Ghostscript or MuPDF to a third party for use with (or usable by) your application, or
  • you intend to allow your users to remotely interact with AGPL Ghostscript or AGPL MuPDF along with your application.

  In the above circumstances, if any one of the following is true you are not authorized to ship AGPL versions of Ghostscript or MuPDF. A commercial license is required If your application:

  • contains a copy of some or all of AGPL Ghostscript or AGPL MuPDF.
  • is derived from, based on or constitutes a revision of some or all of AGPL Ghostscript or AGPL MuPDF.
  • includes one or more functions that use some or all of AGPL versions of Ghostscript or AGPL MuPDF.

  The above criteria apply to your application as a whole. Even if only one section satisfies one of the above criteria, you cannot use AGPL versions of our software and need a commercial license.

• OPEN SOURCE (GNU AGPL) LICENSE

  (AGPL Ghostscript and AGPL MuPDF)

  THE BASICS

  If your entire application, including all source code, is licensed to the public under the GNU Affero General Public License (GNU AGPL), you can provide either of our AGPL products with your application without a commercial license.

  The terms of the AGPL require that your application be licensed as a whole at no charge at all to third parties.

  If your use of AGPL Ghostscript or AGPL MuPDF is such that you will not be distributing to a third party (e.g., creating an internal newsletter or database to be used within your organization), you are authorized to use these AGPL versions and to allow your users to remotely interact with these versions along with your application. Please note that this is only valid as long as this use is only within an organization. Should a user outside the legal organization entity gain access to the software it counts either as a distribution or remote network interaction, which would require a commercial license.

• COMMERCIAL LICENSE

  (Artifex Ghostscript and Artifex MuPDF)

  EXAMPLES

  Generally speaking, “distribution” is the key word. Some examples of distribution/network use requiring a commercial license include:

  • Distributing Ghostscript or MuPDF (or any component) within your non-AGPL application.
  • Distributing Ghostscript or MuPDF on the same media with your non-AGPL application for use with and/or by your application.
  • Distributing Ghostscript or MuPDF embedded within hardware (such as a multi-function printer or RIP).
  • Running Ghostscript or MuPDF on your network servers and permitting non-employees access to interact with these products as part of your non-AGPL application. Example: utilizing Ghostscript to interpret and display a PDF on a cloud application.

  These are illustrative examples only and do not cover all the situations that require a commercial license.

  Please contact us and we’ll help confirm the type of license you may need for your intended use.

• OPEN SOURCE (GNU AGPL) LICENSE

  (AGPL Ghostscript and AGPL MuPDF)

  EXAMPLES

  There are a number of situations that qualify for use of AGPL Ghostscript or MuPDF under terms of the AGPL license. Some examples include:

  • Use Ghostscript to translate old PostScript files into PDF files for use in generating internal reports or documents (within organization).
  • Use of Ghostscript for research and education purposes (e.g., developing a prototype for a college computer science project) that are not distributed to third parties for additional use.
  • Use Ghostscript within an IT department for internal uses only.

  These are illustrative examples and do not cover all the situations that may qualify for an AGPL license.

  If you have a question as to whether your project qualifies, please contact us and we’ll help clarify whether you qualify for open source licensing of our products.