[gdal-dev] About the legality of import - export

[Frank Warmerdam]

On 11-04-12 03:26 AM, Antonio P. wrote:
> What are your experience about this topic?
> For example, we have dwg, shp, pdf files : Can I distribute a program that
> import an export data in these formats ?
> And what about writing data into an existing files ?
>
> What legal implications we have to be in mind?
> Thanks

Antionio,

There are no legal issues with reading and writing shapefiles.  The format
is public and GDAL/OGR does not use any code with unusual licensing for this
format.

For PDF I am guessing you are using the Poppler based PDF driver in GDAL.
If you build with Poppler you should review it's licensing information which
is, I believe, GPL.  So if you distribute a program using GDAL/OGR and Poppler
there are legal ramifications for your program.  Essentially you would need to
provide source code for the program linked with GDAL.

For DWG, I'm not sure what you are planning on.  GDAL/OGR does not currently
read DWG.  There is some discussion of a DWG reader based on the Open Design
Alliance libraries.  If that comes to fruition there will be special legal
issues due to their proprietary licensing.

Note that the above addresses responsibility for software distribution.
For any given file there may be other restrictions on it from the creator
or distributor of the data.  I can't address that here.  But generally
ensuring those requirements are followed will be the responsibility of
whoever accepts the data - not the software distributor.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
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