Re: Can we freely use AMOS in Octave?

[Steven G. Johnson]

Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:
> On 10 August 2012 13:14, Steven G. Johnson <address@hidden> wrote:
> > Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso <jordigh <at> octave.org> writes:
> > > As jwe and Dima Sergatskov have pointed out to me privately, Matlab
> > > is using the same library, so I'd be kinda surprised if this turned
> > > out to be a problem.
> > Unfortunately, Mathworks could easily have purchased a commercial license
> > from ACM.
>
> I kinda doubt it. TMW has played fast and loose with licenses in the
> past (e.g. accepting code into Matlab Central for many years with no
> clear license given, just like the Amos code itself), and the Amos
> code is far enough in the past that it would be consistent with this
> treatment.

Matlab Central is a different situation; thanks to the safe-harbor 
provisions of the DMCA, they aren't responsible for policing 
user-uploaded content, just for taking it down if there is a complaint.

I seriously doubt that Mathworks doesn't legal counsel scrutinizing the 
copyright and license terms of all code that ships in Matlab.  I have 
dealt with their licensing people personally in the past, and they 
definitely purchase licenses to third-party code.

> Let's wait for the ACM response before we decide to do anything. This
> may be all be a very minor thing.

PS. I hope remembered to refer to "TOMS Algorithm 644" in your email; 
ACM wouldn't know the code under the name of "AMOS".