Us court upholds enforceability of gnu gpl as both a. Artifex later stopped using the aladdin license, and switched to releasing each version of ghostscript under the gpl without delay, having concluded that the free rider problem was no longer commercially significant and that straightforward. Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for adobe systems postscript and. May 16, 2017 the gnu gpl, which is attached to the complaint, provides that the ghostscript user agrees to its terms if the user does not obtain a commercial license. Artifex provides ghostscript under a dual licensing model, where licensees can either purchase a commercial license or obtain the software without charge under the terms of the gpl. Licensing ghostscript in a commercial product software. In case if it is installed, the program would use the ghostscript api. Its main purposes are the rasterization or rendering of such page description language files, for the display or printing of document pages, and the conversion between postscript and pdf files. Click the remove or changeremove tab to the right of the program.
Ghostscript is available under both an open source agpl license and commercial license. On the start menu for windows 8, rightclick the screens bottomleft corner, click control panel, and then, under programs, do one of the following. Read only access to applicationlevel registry keys hklm\ software \ gpl ghostscript. Court upholds enforceability of open source licenses lexology. However, one of the key features of the gnu gpl is that distribution of the software including software that incorporates the open source code by a licensee must be made under the terms of the. Plaintiff alleges that defendant used ghostscript, did not obtain a commercial license, and represented publicly that its use of ghostscript was licensed under the gnu gpl. According to the court, because defendant integrated ghostscript into its software without revealing to the enduser that ghostscript was part of the hancom software, the gnu gpl required defendant to distribute its software with the accompanying source code. Prior to 20, 10 plaintiffs open source license was under the gnu general public license gpl. It is a project from artifex for handling postscript, pdfs, and printers gnu ghostscript is a separate version of the project, and is not. The gnu gpl which has a number of versions is one of the most commonly used open source software licences. Under its dual licensing model, artifex offers ghostscript under two sets of license terms. Licensees can enter into a commercial license agreeing to pay artifex a certain 9 royalty fee, or they can license ghostscript under a free open source license.
Important open source ruling confirms enforceability of. The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. The gnu version of the software is a distribution of the ghostscript project from artifex software. Ghostscript and mupdf are available under both open source agpl and commercial license agreements, while smartoffice, scanskew, and our standalone. Docuware printer ps version 9 docuware support portal. It is undisputed that defendant neither obtained a commercial license for its use of ghostscript nor made its products using ghostscript open source. In december 2016 artifex sued hancom, a south korean vendor of office suite software, in the northern district of california. May 11, 2017 the gnu gpl requires that when you use gpl licensed software to make some other software, the resulting software also has to be opensourced with the same license if its released to the public.
However, if your imagemagick or graphicsmagick was built with libgs, then it is definitely linked with ghostscript, and doesnt use the delegate mechanism. Trusted by the worlds leading technology and services companies for over 30 years. An interpreter for the postscript language and the pdf file format, a set of c procedures the ghostscript library that implement the graphics capabilities that appear as primitive operations in the postscript language, and. Well, first of all, you need a license to use any software except one, which is public domain in any way as for ghostscript at the moment artifex offers it under. May 15, 2017 the software, referred to as ghostscript, was dual licensed under the gpl license and a commercial license. Hancom is a south korean software company that used ghostscript in software they were selling. Important open source ruling confirms enforceability of dual.
This page is licensed under a creative commons attributionnoderivatives 4. By contrast, the gnu general public license is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a. Court upholds enforceability of open source licenses. The problem is that gimp also relies on ghostscript to interpret ps files. It is a project from artifex for handling postscript, pdfs, and printers gnu ghostscript is a separate version of the project.
May 16, 2017 the software, referred to as ghostscript, was dual licensed under the gpl license and a commercial license. Some versions of ghostscript are distributed freely under the name gpl ghostscript or for older versions gnu ghostscript. Gnu ghostscript is known to run on the following platform families. Where is the regular gpl gnu public license version of ghostscript and why is there a separate repository here on sourceforge that is 5 versions out of date compared with the. The complaint alleges that plaintiff, a california company, offered ghostscript for license either commercially or through the gnu gpl on the internet, that defendant licensed ghostscript via the gnu gpl, that it integrated ghostscript into its hangul software without complying with the opensource licensing requirements, and that it offered. A featurerich environment for writing latex documents on windows. May 30, 2017 however, one of the key features of the gnu gpl is that distribution of the software including software that incorporates the open source code by a licensee must be made under the terms of the. I read about sidestepping licensing gs altogether by simply suggesting to the users that they can download and install gs on their own to improve their experience the software actually works without it, too, but most users would want to renderload pdf documents.
The gplmost famous for applying to the linux kernelis an open source software license that allows free modification and redistribution of software, subject to making the source code available under gpl license terms, among other requirements. Gpl ghostscript is the basis for display ghostscript, which adds display postscript functionality support. Ghostscript is the name of a set of software that provides. When you find the program gpl ghostscript, click it, and then do one of the following. The installation wrapper sites the affero gnu public license agpl or affero gpl license. Gpl ghostscript by artifex software should i remove it. We keep online documentation for the development tree and many previous releases in the documentation archive. Open source licensing basics unlike many open source software projects, ghostscript is owned and fully controlled by artifex.
Gpl is mostly for programs while lgpl is limited to software libraries. Or, you can uninstall ghostscript gpl msi setup from your computer by using the addremove program feature in the windows control panel. Plaintiff alleges that defendant used ghostscript, did not obtain a commercial license, and represented publicly that its use of ghostscript was licensed under the gnl gpu. A resizer tool for png files and 9 patches in several densities. Understanding the gpl is a contract court case bruce. Artifex is the commercial licensor of ghostscript software, a widely used pdf interpreter. Mar 19, 2020 gpl ghostscript is a software package that bundles interpreters for postscript languages and pdf files, as well as a collection of c procedures for implementing filtering and graphics due to its. Apr 24, 2020 ultimately, all of this naming, forking of the software source code, and license wrangling is important to note as two versions emerged from the fray ghostscript, which is ed software owned by artifex software inc.
The application leverages redmon and ghostscript and is licensed under the gnu gpl. Gnu ghostscript gnu project free software foundation. The ghostscript interpreters access rights is restricted and it may only access. For gpl programs running on your server, you are the user, for agpl, the real users of the app are the users of your website or service. The affero general public license is a free software license. Gpl ghostscript is a software package that bundles interpreters for postscript languages and pdf files, as well as a collection of c procedures for implementing filtering and graphics due to its. Oct 11, 2017 the case involves a piece of software licensed under the gpl version 3 or later, called ghostscript.
Therefore, the pdfrenderer binaries are also made available under both the gpl v3 or the agpl v3, as pdfrenderer in its current form links dynamically to the ghostscript library. In dieser lizenz ist ghostscript in zahlreichen anwendungen bekannter. So, suppose we dont ship ghostscript ourselves, but instead have our software check its availability and, in case if it is absent, suggest how to obtain it short explanatory text and link to their download page. Further muddying the waters is the fact that there are both gpl and agpl plus commercially licensed releases of ghostscript that you or a downstream user might use. Jun 29, 2007 the gnu general public license is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works. This case concerned hancoms failure to distribute or offer to provide the source code for their software. It is a project from artifex for handling postscript, pdfs, and printers gnu ghostscript is a separate version of the project, and is not involved or implicated in the case. Whereas, raph levien hereinafter inventor has obtained patent protection for related technology hereinafter patented technology, inventor wishes to aid the the gnu free software project in achieving its goals, and inventor also wishes to increase public. Read only access to ghostscript s lib folder resources. Jul 27, 2017 hancoms website also stated that it had licensed ghostscript under the gpl. In february 20, ghostscript changed its license from gplv3 to gnu agpl in version 9.
This software package is licensed under the gnu general public license gpl save the file gslite. We are studying a prospect of using ghostscript in a commercial product windows desktop application. Court ruling supports contractual and statutory enforcement. Ghostscript is a suite of software based on an interpreter for adobe systems postscript and portable document format pdf page description languages.
May 28, 2017 peter retired from software development in 2002 to become a composer and musician and sold ghostscript to artifex. Does commercial use of ghostscript as saas needs a licence. The first version of the affero general public license agplv1, was published by affero, inc. Ghost trap ghostscript trapped in a sandbox github. Intellectual property litigation alert breach of contract. The case involves a piece of software licensed under the gpl version 3 or later, called ghostscript. What agpl does on top of gpl is the redefinition of user. Artifex software licenses ghostscript gratis under the gpl more recently agpl and for revenue under proprietary licenses. As for ghostscript at the moment artifex offers it under. Peter retired from software development in 2002 to become a composer and musician and sold ghostscript to artifex.
But its called commercial because, i guess, atrifex makes money on it, definitely not because that is only way for you to use ghostscript. Ghostscript is a ed work whose is owned by artifex software, inc. These patents are licensed for use with gpl ghostscript under the following grant. Artifex is the exclusive licensor of the software product, ghostscript, under a gnu general public license version 3. In particular, because defendant integrated ghostscript into its software without revealing to the enduser that ghostscript was part of the. The gnu gpl, which is attached to the complaint, provides that the ghostscript user agrees to its terms if the user does not obtain a commercial license. Understanding the gpl is a contract court case bruce perens.
Nonetheless, defendant failed to comply with key provisions of the gnu gpl. Conditions on distributing ghostscript in a commercial context. Its main purposes are the rasterization or rendering of such page description language 5 files, for the display or printing of document pages, and the conversion between postscript and pdf files. Hancoms website also stated that it had licensed ghostscript under the gpl. The objective of the project is to bring bestofbreed security to ghostscripts. Ultimately, all of this naming, forking of the software source code, and license wrangling is important to note as two versions emerged from the fray ghostscript, which is ed software owned by artifex software inc. Nov 22, 2017 the installation wrapper sites the affero gnu public license agpl or affero gpl license. Agpl ghostscript is provided under the gnu affero general public license. According to the plaintiff, those seeking to commercially distribute ghostscript could obtain a commercial license to use, modify, copy, andor distribute ghostscript for a fee.
Motion to dismiss denied in recent gnu gpl case free. Licensees under the gnu gpl have the freedom to use, modify and redistribute the source code of the software they receive. Should my webapp also be agpl if i use imagemagick linked. The vast majority of all ghostscript development is done by artifex engineers, and on rare occasions, bug fixes accepted from outside contributors under license by artifex. Ghost trap is used to securely convert postscript and pdf files from untrusted sources into images. The leading edge of ghostscript development is under the gnu affero gpl license. Ghostscript is a package of software that provides. I can just go to artifex and get the latest version under that license. For now, gnu gpl is an enforceable contract, says us federal.
Artifex later stopped using the aladdin license, and switched to releasing each version of ghostscript under the gpl without delay, having concluded that the free rider problem was no longer commercially significant and that straightforward use of the gpl alone would. For now, gnu gpl is an enforceable contract, says us. District court denies pretrial motion to dismiss gpl. Therefore you are distributing the app if someone other.
Unlike many open source software projects, ghostscript is owned and fully. The gplmost famous for applying to the linux kernelis an open source software license that allows. May 03, 2017 under its dual licensing model, artifex offers ghostscript under two sets of license terms. According to the plaintiff, those seeking to commercially distribute ghostscript could obtain a commercial license to use, modify, copy, andor distribute ghostscript for.
Agpl ghostscript is the canonical variant available, since february 20, under the gnu affero general public license which is a free software license. A case in the united states involving the gnu gpl made headlines recently with a denial of a motion to dismiss. In dieser lizenz ist ghostscript in zahlreichen anwendungen bekannter hersteller wie z. An interpreter for the postscript tm language, with the ability to convert postscript language files to gnu ghostscript modules v. A progress bar shows you how long it will take to remove gpl ghostscript.
The vast majority of all ghostscript development is done by artifex engineers, and on rare occasions, bug fixes accepted from outside contributors under license by. Whenever changes are made under gpl license, source codes are required and changes must also be licensed under gpl, while lgpl may allow nongpl programs to link to libraries but must still provide source codes. Difference between gpl and lgpl compare the difference. The software, referred to as ghostscript, was dual licensed under the gpl license and a commercial license. Gnu ghostscript is part of the gnu project and is now derived from gpl ghostscript.
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