[License-discuss] TCPDF license: LGPLv3 + a special clause: is this still considered "Open Source"?

[Karl Fogel]

Marc Laporte <marc at marclaporte.com> writes:
>Hi Karl and all!
>
>I hope you are well and I am looking for advice, again :-)
>
>We are discussing which PDF library to include in Tiki Wiki CMS
>Groupware (http://tiki.org)
>
>TCPDF is an option but there is a special clause
>
>It is LGPL v3 +  "Additionally,  YOU CAN'T REMOVE ANY TCPDF COPYRIGHT
>NOTICE OR LINK FROM THE GENERATED PDF DOCUMENTS."
>http://www.tcpdf.org/license.php
>
>What do you think?

I'd stay away from that.  If your publishing software places
requirements on the *content* of the material you're publishing,
something is wrong.  In my opinion, as long as they have this clause,
TCPDF is not free software, despite their claim that it is.

The clause is also unclear: who exactly is the "YOU"?  The first
downstream licensee?  What about the second - Nth downstream licensees?
And can a redistributor of TCPDF remove that clause from the license on
their redistributions?  (Possibly; after all, the clause doesn't say
anything about itself, and it's part of a license notice, not of the
license itself.)

The whole thing is legally ill-crafted as well as unfree, IMHO.  Stay a
million miles away.  Or, see if you can persuade them that this kind of
enforced advertising in output is not the way to go.

-Karl

>---------- Forwarded message ----------
>From: Xen
>Date: Wed, Nov 23, 2011 at 4:57 PM
>Subject: Re: [Tiki-devel] Slideshow gains pdf export ; ). Wiki next! +
>PDF Document Data Merger
>To: Tiki developers
>
>
>On 11/23/2011 09:48 AM, Robert Plummer wrote:
>> Also, my first choice was TCPDF, but it is HUGE! 11.5 meg. I couldn't
>> justify making tiki that much larger for simple pdf export.
>
>I would also eliminate use of TCPDF for my current needs due to this
>statement in their license:
>  YOU CAN'T REMOVE ANY TCPDF COPYRIGHT NOTICE OR LINK FROM THE
>  GENERATED PDF DOCUMENTS.
>http://www.tcpdf.org/license.php
>
>On the TCPDF examples, I see a large red logo on the top of every pdf....
>
>
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