Re: Using USRP/GNURADIO Commercially

GNU Radio
1

Matt-John wrote:

Hello All,

We are planning to use USRP/GNURADIO core to produce some commercial
products. Is this legal ? If not, how we can make it legal ?

Matt

Matt,

I’m sorry, but that is illegal. You can use the USRP, but not the
GNURADIO firmware or software.

Rudy

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2

Rudy M. wrote:

We are planning to use USRP/GNURADIO core to produce some commercial
products. Is this legal ? If not, how we can make it legal ?

I’m sorry, but that is illegal. You can use the USRP, but not the GNURADIO firmware or software.

Rudy

Um, no.

GNU Radio is licensed under the terms of the GPLv3 or later. This
license does not prevent commercial sale of products based on GNU Radio
and/or the USRP.

It does, however, have license terms which must be adhered to when doing
so. Anyone in this situation is advised to obtain competent legal
advice (i.e., not from this mailing list.)

3

On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 3:09 PM, Rudy M. [email protected]
wrote:

Okay you got me. But answer me this: Why did we (the gnuradio experts)
select a license that does not provide a clear answer to Matt’s question?

The answer is clear. It’s not even very complicated. Nevertheless, for
one’s own protection, the validation of that claim should come from a
licensed attorney. Just be very sure the attorney actually knows the
answer.

Frank

4

Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:55:50 -0700
From: [email protected]

I’m sorry, but that is illegal. You can use the USRP, but not the GNURADIO firmware or software.

Um, no.

Okay you got me. But answer me this: Why did we (the gnuradio experts)
select a license that does not provide a clear answer to Matt’s
question?

Rudy

5

On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 6:09 PM, Rudy M. [email protected]
wrote:

Date: Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:55:50 -0700
From: [email protected]

I’m sorry, but that is illegal. You can use the USRP, but not the
GNURADIO firmware or software.

Um, no.

Okay you got me. But answer me this: Why did we (the gnuradio experts)
select a license that does not provide a clear answer to Matt’s question?

Um. WTF?

The preamble to the GPLv3 states in its preamble: “For example, if you
distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you
must pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that you received.
You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code.
And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.”

Commercial sale is an orthogonal issue to most of what the licensing
is doing. You are welcome, even encouraged to make commercial use of
the software. Please do so and enhance the diversity of usage …
we’ll all gain.

Commercial use/sale is clearly and explicitly permitted. However,
like any other contract or license you have certain obligations. For
the GPL (any version) your primary obligation is that if you
redistribute the GPL licensed software or modified versions you must
pass on the code (and the code for any modifications) along with the
same rights (allowing further redistribution of those GPL covered
components, allowing modification). You can charge any price you
like, and you’re only obligated to pass on the code to those you sold
or gave the binaries to.

This is not rocket science. The GPL (v3) is one of the most
straight-forward and human readable non-trivial licenses or contracts
that I’ve ever seen.

Of course, it’s also good advice to consult a knowledgeable attorney
on even the most simplistic and common transactions of importance…
Real estate, software licensing for a product… no difference.

I notice you also mention USRP. Please keep in mind that if you build
a radio transmitting device using the USRP you will almost certainly
be subject to FCC (in the US) regulation as well as radio licensing in
whatever countries your product is sold in. I’m not aware of anyone
obtaining type approval for a USRP based device, and doing so may by
tricky. This is true even if your device operates solely in the
“license free” ISM bands.

6 
                                 You can charge any price you

like, and you’re only obligated to pass on the code to those you sold
or gave the binaries to.

Well, no. Once you ship a binary to even a single person (outside
your company), that person is free under the GPL license to make and
share as many copies of the binary as they like. Each eventual
recipient has the right to come back to you to get the source code.
Each binary must come with an offer that says how to get the matching
source. Your recipients are free to reproduce that offer for their
recipients.

So, you are obligated to provide source code that matches each binary
version that you ship, to anyone who has the binary (not just your
own customers), for three years or the support lifetime of the binary
product, whichever is longer, and for a low cost. See paragraph 6(b)
of The GNU General Public License v3.0 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation .

There’s a FAQ on the GNU Public License at that same web page.

But answer me this: Why did we (the gnuradio experts)
select a license that does not provide a clear answer to Matt’s question?

I’m one of the originators of the GNU Radio project. We picked the GPL
because it protects the freedom of the code (and the code’s users), and
encourages a community to form around the code.

By then I’d already started and sold off one company that made tons of
money by selling and supporting GPL-licensed and other free software.
I really didn’t see any problem with making commercial gear that used
GNU Radio under the GPL. There are tons of network routers and PDAs
and such that ship with GNU/Linux inside – much of which is also
GPL-licensed. Those companies seem to be able to read the license,
figure it out, and make money.

You can make money with free software by selling your expertise; by
selling convenience; by selling support; by selling quality assurance;
by selling documentation; by selling hardware that works with free
software (like Ettus R. does); and in other ways. You just
can’t make money by preventing people from seeing your code, freely
sharing your code, and improving it if they want to.

When we started GNU Radio, the only working software-defined radio
code was proprietary. The opportunity was there to build a
community-maintained SDR code base, that everyone would be free to
experiment with, share, improve, or commercialize. We did it (thanks,
everybody)! Eric and I could’ve built another proprietary SDR
package, but then you wouldn’t all be here having this conversation.

John

(PS: Most of the proprietary software I’ve seen has even more
draconian and unreadable licenses than the free software.)