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Is the wire protocol copyrightable? If not, then this license only affects the _document_ itself, not downstream implementations that may _use_ the document. A
by adambatkin 5y ago
Is the wire protocol copyrightable? If not, then this license only affects the _document_ itself, not downstream implementations that may _use_ the document.
And if there is a differently-licenses _implementation_ of the protocol, one would assume that it is possible to implement (or just use directly) that implementation without any reliance on this specific specification document.
In other words: IANAL but I don't think this will accomplish what they want (which is Amazon re-implementing a wire-compatible-with-MongoDB database)
As an example: I (probably) can't scan and redistribute an entire cookbook, but I can bake cookies from a recipe in the cookbook and sell them.
- calvinlh 5y agoIf the "You may not use the material for commercial purposes" clause applies to the wire protocol itself, does MongoDB itself get an exception to that for Atlas/MongoDB Enterprise?
- tyingq 5y agoThe copyright owner/holder can do whatever they want. That's essentially how you're able to have things like Gitlab Enterprise or CockroachDB Enterprise use their open source base in an extended not-open-source premium product. It does require you manage outside contributions to the open source part carefully and get approval for those contributions to land in the not-open-source part.
- laurowyn 5y agoThe license is for the published version available publicly only. There's no reason why it can't be separately licensed to an individual/entity to grant commercial use on a case by case basis. This is no different from negotiating a contract - the license defines the terms under which you are allowed to use the provided software.