Re: Libchamplain legal question

[Jiří Techet <techet gmail com>]

I have written directly to Microsoft, described the problem and asked
if there's any legal problem with libchamplain using the Bing service.
I think it's easier than guessing what they mean by the license. I'll
let you know once/if I get some response.

Jiri

On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 8:48 PM, Zeeshan Ali (Khattak)
<zeeshanak gnome org> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 17, 2013 at 4:48 AM, Karen Sandler <karen gnome org> wrote:
> > On Fri, September 13, 2013 10:03 am, Zeeshan Ali (Khattak) wrote:
> > > Hi Karen,
> > >    We received a patch in libchamplain[1] that would allow
> > > libchamplain using applications to enable usage of Bing maps. The
> > > patch itself does not add any Bing support directly to libchamplain
> > > but the maintainer is concerned that the only way an application could
> > > use it is likely not legal so he is hesitant to merge it.
> > >
> > > So would be nice to know your opinion on this matter:
> > >
> > > https://mail.gnome.org/archives/libchamplain-list/2013-September/thread.html
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance for looking into this.
> >
> > hey there,
>
>
> Hi,
>
> > I started looking into this.
>
> Thanks so much.
>
> > did you check out section 8 of the terms?
> > http://www.microsoft.com/maps/product/terms.html
>
> Well yeah but they go a bit above my head so that is why I thought I
> should consult you. :)
>
> > Would you plan on doing any of those things?
>
> Some of them seem like we'll easily violate:
>
> (b) Copy, store, archive, or create a database of the Content, except
> that geocodes may be stored locally only for use with your Company
> Applications.
>
> Since libchamplain caches the content on local drives.
>
> > There's an exception for "Education or Non-Profit Organization Use" which
> > we may qualify for if none of the items in that section is problematic,
>
> If i understood correctly, this implies conditions from section 8,
> including (b) so that might be problematic.
>
> > though we'd have to think about it in more depth. I just started reading
> > the document and I don't want to go too deep when I don't understand the
> > use in detail. Ping me on IRC and maybe we can talk through it a bit
> > more...
>
> Ok, will do. The main point we are interested in is if there could be
> *any* legal way for apps to use Bing with libchamplain. If so, we'll
> add this patch and perhaps add a warning in the docs about it.
>
> --
> Regards,
>
> Zeeshan Ali (Khattak)
> FSF member#5124