On Tue, 3 Jul 2007 16:49:36 +0200 "François Févotte" <francois.fevotte@ensta.org> wrote: > Dear Mentors, > > I would like to package mpeg2vidcodec, which the reference > implementation of the MPEG2 codec provided by the MPEG Software > Simulation Group[1]. > > However, the authors of this software seem to have disappeared without > leaving any forwarding address. Moreover, I have not been able to find > any information about the license it is placed under. Then you cannot assume that you are allowed to distribute it, copy it, package it, modify it or even use it. Lack of a licence indicates full copyright protection, i.e. All Rights Reserved. You have no rights to do anything with this software without explicit consent from the copyright holders. No-one else can change the status of this code. > The only thing I > can tell is that the tarball is distributed in many places over the > web (for example on the ImageMagick mirrors in the delegates > directory[2]) ; this is no proof, but it could indicate that Debian > could redistribute it too... Such assumptions will not generally get passed the ftpmasters and there is little point working on the package only to find it rejected upon upload. What's more, uploading a package knowing it will be rejected is not good for relations between sponsors and ftpmasters. > What would you advise me to do? I would really like to package this > codec since it could improve ImageMagick's usability a lot, but maybe > these licensing/distribution issues cannot be dealt with :/ Without consent from the copyright holders, I would say that you've got it in one. Without a licence, it is not free software, it is not even distributable so it cannot go into non-free either. Overall, it is about as off-limits as OutlookExpress and just as appealing. ;-) If the copyright holders did suddenly re-appear one day, they could legitimately prosecute you, your sponsor and Debian as a whole if this was uploaded. They might not, but we don't know until they say so. > FYI, there has already been an RFP[3] for mpeg2vidcodec, but it seems > to have been abandonned. And this is probably why the RFP is also dead. Keep trying to contact the copyright holders - there is nothing else that can be done. It's their problem - they didn't put it into the public domain or license it. -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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