SvmHmm is not under Apache License

[Horsmann]

The license of SvmHmm is not Apache compatible but currently a 'Apache' project in TC.

SVM-Struct
----------

Available at http://svmlight.joachims.org/

Author: Thorsten Joachims
	[email protected]

	Cornell University
	Department of Computer Science
	4153 Upson Hall
	Ithaca, NY 14853
	USA

LICENSING TERMS 

This program is granted free of charge for non-commercial research and
education purposes. However you must obtain a license from the author
to use it for commercial purposes.

Scientific results produced using the software provided shall
acknowledge the use of SVM-Struct. Please cite as  

    I. Tsochantaridis, T. Joachims, T. Hofmann, and Y. Altun, 
    Large Margin Methods for Structured and Interdependent Output Variables,
    Journal of Machine Learning Research (JMLR), 6(Sep):1453-1484, 2005. 
    http://jmlr.csail.mit.edu/papers/volume6/tsochantaridis05a/tsochantaridis05a.pdf

Moreover shall the author of SVM-Struct be informed about the
publication.

The software and derivatives of the software must not be distributed
without prior permission of the author.

By using SVM-Struct you agree to the licensing terms.


NO WARRANTY 

BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT
WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER
PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE. 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 ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM, 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.

[reckart]

That shouldn't be an issue in this case because we do not really link to the code - we only call it. TreeTagger is also not license in an ASL-compatible way, but still the DKPro Core TreeTagger module is ASL. It only contains wrapper code which calls the external binary. The binary is not directly included in the module either.

[reckart]

If we package pre-compiled binaries of svmhmm and distribute them, a permission from Thorsten Joachims would be required. Do we have that? If it is there, it should probably be in some README file in the module or in the binaries artifact (or both).

[Horsmann]

We call the pre-compiled binaries via our wrapper code. The binaries are provided in Maven artifacts. I guess this would require an explicit permission then?

But this line is counter-intuitive for ASL, isn't ? free of charge for non-commercial research and education purposes. However you must obtain a license from the author to use it for commercial purposes.

[reckart]

As far as I can see, the SVMHMM license is not reciprocal (like GPL), thus it does not enforce a particular license on the calling code. Even if it were GPL, because we call it as an external process, the reciprocal terms shouldn't not trigger. So the DKPro TC code is not affected by the license.

According to the license terms, for the redistribution of the pre-compiled binaries via Maven artifacts, a permission from the author would be required, yes. And in fact, we have that permission:

https://github.com/dkpro/dkpro-tc/blob/master/dkpro-tc-ml-svmhmm/src/main/scripts/LICENSE.txt

The user of the module is affected by the SVMHMM license as it cannot be used in particular cases without permission of the author. For this reason, the DKPro TC website says:

License
While most DKPro TC modules are available under the Apache Software License (ASL) version 2, there are a few modules that depend on external libraries and are thus licensed under the GPL. The license of each individual module is specified in its LICENSE file.

It must be pointed out that while the component’s source code itself is licensed under the ASL or GPL, individual components might make use of third-party libraries or products that are not licensed under the ASL or GPL. Please make sure that you are aware of the third party licenses and respect them.

So - IMHO we are all good here.

[Horsmann]

Ah, good :D - I think I will leave this issue open as 'won't fix' as a reminder. This is not as clearly visible as it should be.
Thx

[Horsmann]

Using SvmHmm for commerical purposes is at the moment not possible. This probably requires permission on a case-to-case basis by the author of SvmHmm.