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TMS320F280049: License of standard lib

HS FAE Germany
Mastermind 32280 points
Part Number: TMS320F280049


Hello,

customer wrote me because of a licensing question of our C standard lib. Eg. the file strcmp.h (and all other files of the standard libraries), which are included with the C2000 compiler, contains the following license text, which is based on a BSD-3-Clause license:

/****************************************************************************/
/*  strcmp                                                                  */
/*                                                                          */
/* Copyright (c) 1993 Texas Instruments Incorporated                        */
/* http://www.ti.com/                                                       */
/*                                                                          */
/*  Redistribution and  use in source  and binary forms, with  or without   */
/*  modification,  are permitted provided  that the  following conditions   */
/*  are met:                                                                */
/*                                                                          */
/*     Redistributions  of source  code must  retain the  above copyright   */
/*     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.        */
/*                                                                          */
/*     Redistributions in binary form  must reproduce the above copyright   */
/*     notice, this  list of conditions  and the following  disclaimer in   */
/*     the  documentation  and/or   other  materials  provided  with  the   */
/*     distribution.                                                        */
/*                                                                          */
/*     Neither the  name of Texas Instruments Incorporated  nor the names   */
/*     of its  contributors may  be used to  endorse or  promote products   */
/*     derived  from   this  software  without   specific  prior  written   */
/*     permission.                                                          */
/*                                                                          */
/*  THIS SOFTWARE  IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT  HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS   */
/*  "AS IS"  AND ANY  EXPRESS OR IMPLIED  WARRANTIES, INCLUDING,  BUT NOT   */
/*  LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR   */
/*  A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT   */
/*  OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,   */
/*  SPECIAL,  EXEMPLARY,  OR CONSEQUENTIAL  DAMAGES  (INCLUDING, BUT  NOT   */
/*  LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,   */
/*  DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY   */
/*  THEORY OF  LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT  LIABILITY, OR TORT   */
/*  (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE   */
/*  OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.    */
/*                                                                          */
/****************************************************************************/

Here the transmission in binary form has unfortunately been formulated relatively imprecise. This can be the compiled C file (the object code) or the .out file. This is then included in the flash of the DSP in our products. Then (from a lawyer's point of view) we would have to enclose the above license text with each product, which is of course nonsense for a product such as a power supply.
There was once a similar inquiry here: https://e2e.ti.com/support/microcontrollers/msp-low-power-microcontrollers-group/msp430/f/msp-low-power-microcontroller-forum/821132/msp430fr2522-licensing---redistribution-in-binary-form
However, the question then arises as to what is meant by the sentence or by "manifest": "They must include a copy of the TI license in their manifest".
With other manufacturers he has already seen the following formulations, it is then relatively clear: "Redistributions in binary form, except as embedded into a Nxxxx Semiconductor ASA integrated circuit in a product or a software update for such product, must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution."
This license agreement is not clear to the customer? Is there still a higher-level license that does not entail such obligations?
Regards, Holger
  • 0
    TI__Guru**** 162435 points

    Holger,

    We will need to check with the legal team on this one.

    Regards,

    John

  • 0 in reply to JohnS
    TI__Guru**** 162435 points

    Holger,

    We are still working with legal on this one.  We will let you know as soon as we have the official response.

    Regards,

    John

  • 0
    TI__Expert 5295 points

    Holger,

    Here is the response from legal:
    The BSD-3-Clause license is frequently used by many companies, including TI, that desire to license their software under a permissive open source software license.  Its use is common and accepted within the open source community.  If a piece of TI software licensed under the BSD-3-Clause license is distributed by our customer embedded within their hardware product, the license still applies.  Normally, TI would expect our customer to include the license and notice in the software manifest, or if there is no software manifest, then in the documentation of the hardware product into which it is embedded.  If there is no hardware product documentation in which to include it, then it would be acceptable to TI to not include it as long as the software is being run on a TI device.  For clarity, this approach may not be acceptable to other licensors that use BSD-3-Clause licenses for their software products.

    Regards,
    Greg