Hi all, I am looking for information about licensing of HW designs. To be more specific I would like to find out what kind of license comes with the WishBone specification (rev B.3). I read on the OpenCores web site that they refer to the GPL licence but after having read it on http://www.gnu.org I have a lot of questions. It is not clear to me once a GPL licensed softcore is included in a larger design then the whole design MUST be made available under the same conditions of the GPL core. Moreover on the OpenCore web site (http://opencores.nnytech.net/faq.cgi/section/4/4.1#4.1) it is written that: "Conversely, if you use a GPLed item, you MUST distribute all information about it and NOT prevent others from redistributing or modifying it. Stating it as an oversimplification: you cannot keep secrets unless you want your butt sued." Does this mean that a company who makes money on the design they make cannot use free cores because they would be OBLIGED to "distribute all information about it"? If a design center uses a free IP in their design, must they make the source code of the whole IC available to everybody? Or the entire data base? Or none of them? And what if they design their IPs but all of them are equipped with a WishBone interface: they do not use any source code but just the WishBone specifications. Must they publish their source code? I've already googled but I was not able to find the information I was looking for. Suggestion, articles, URLs and anything useful to my purpose is welcomed. Thanks in advance. hata
Soft IPs licensing
Started by ●July 26, 2005
Reply by ●July 26, 20052005-07-26
"hata" <sabatian@libero.it> schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:1122377144.005204.205540@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...> Hi all, > > I am looking for information about licensing of HW designs. To be more > specific I would like to find out what kind of license comes with the > WishBone specification (rev B.3). I read on the OpenCores web site that > they refer to the GPL licence but after having read it on > http://www.gnu.org I have a lot of questions. It is not clear to me > once a GPL licensed softcore is included in a larger design then the > whole design MUST be made available under the same conditions of the > GPL core. Moreover on the OpenCore web site > (http://opencores.nnytech.net/faq.cgi/section/4/4.1#4.1) it is written > that: > > "Conversely, if you use a GPLed item, you MUST distribute all > information about it and NOT prevent others from redistributing or > modifying it. Stating it as an oversimplification: you cannot keep > secrets unless you want your butt sued." > > Does this mean that a company who makes money on the design they make > cannot use free cores because they would be OBLIGED to "distribute all > information about it"? If a design center uses a free IP in their > design, must they make the source code of the whole IC available to > everybody? Or the entire data base? Or none of them? And what if they > design their IPs but all of them are equipped with a WishBone > interface: they do not use any source code but just the WishBone > specifications. Must they publish their source code? > > I've already googled but I was not able to find the information I was > looking for. Suggestion, articles, URLs and anything useful to my > purpose is welcomed. > > Thanks in advance. > > hata >wishbone and compliant products can be for profit without the need to reveal the sources. the licensing must be checked for each case in separate, the GPL is the worst license (most restrictive). in generic, you can use pretty much all you can (open source ipcore stuff) the chances that somebody will actually sue you are very little. Of course if you are trying to sell a ip core in source form that is largely based on the GPL source code than that would not end very well. But if you use open source IP cores in some ASIC without publishing the sources, then nothing happens - because no one will know whats inside the asic and as there is no party that could sue you or has even interest in doing so. sure check it out with some good lawer to makes sure there are no chances you get sued. Antti
Reply by ●July 28, 20052005-07-28
In article <1122377144.005204.205540@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>, sabatian@libero.it says...> Hi all, > > I am looking for information about licensing of HW designs. <snip > I read on the OpenCores web site that > they refer to the GPL licence but after having read it on > http://www.gnu.org I have a lot of questions. <snip>Curious about gpl, I found this transcription of the Massachusetts Software Council's Open Source Summit. Quote: "to facilitate a dialog between professionals who are engaged in efforts around the topic of open source". End Quote. http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050727214837480 It's discussion may cover some of your questions. -- James Harry