[License-discuss] Open source license and non disclosure agreement

[Patrice-Emmanuel Schmitz]

At Joinup.eu, we had the question once regarding the use of the EUPL (or
the use of the CeCILL licence).
The answer is that you can enforce confidentiality (e.g. a NDA during the
development of the project, during an initial period) through a signed
contributor agreement (e.g. based on the Harmony.org framework) assigning
the distribution rights to a leading organisation and allowing this
organisation to distribute the software under license X.
However if this distribution licence X is OSD compliant (GPL, LGPL or any
other), you cannot try to restrict redistribution (or try to practice a
kind of follow-up with "your word to say"). Once distribution will be
validly done under this licence, no NDA can be enforced.
P-E


2013/10/3 Quentin Lefebvre <quentin.lefebvre at inria.fr>

> Hi,
>
> Currently working on an open source project, we are looking for an
> appropriate license for it.
>
> We would like something that allows us to work with people in a way such
> that :
>  - we can be informed of modifications of our program by developers,
>  - we can have "our word to say" about redistribution of modified code
> (i.e. we would like to be able to explicitly authorize people to share the
> modified code).
>
> There is something in the GNU (L)GPL in article 2 that looks like what we
> want, but this 2nd article is not so obvious and seems in contradiction
> with others. Here is what is said :
>
> "You may convey covered works to others *for the sole purpose of having
> them make modifications exclusively for you*, or provide you with
> facilities for running those works, provided that you comply with the terms
> of this License in conveying all material for which you do not control
> copyright. Those thus making or running the covered works for you must do
> so exclusively on your behalf, under your direction and control, *on terms
> that prohibit them from making any copies of your copyrighted material
> outside their relationship with you*."
>
> But in GNU GPL's FAQ, here is what we found :
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/**gpl-faq.en.html#**DoesTheGPLAllowNDA<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#DoesTheGPLAllowNDA>,
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/**gpl-faq.en.html#**DoesTheGPLAllowModNDA<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#DoesTheGPLAllowModNDA>,
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/**gpl-faq.en.html#**DevelopChangesUnderNDA<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.en.html#DevelopChangesUnderNDA>.
>
> I'd be very pleased to have more information and explanations about this
> kind of non disclosure agreement. How is it possible exactly under the GPL
> or LGPL terms ?
> Should we maybe choose another license for our purpose ?
> Are our goals in total contradiction with open source software ?
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestion.
> Best regards,
> Quentin Lefebvre
> INRIA
> Secure and Mobile Information Systems project
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-- 
Patrice-Emmanuel Schmitz
pe.schmitz at googlemail.com
tel. + 32 478 50 40 65
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