license compatibility

[FlorianLudwig]

I've spend some time searching the web, but I am not quite sure:

Is it okay to relience the code (aka reuse) in a project under a different license (namely bsd-3-clause, like rdflib)?

While the w3c license faq states:

Is code released under the W3C license compatible with non-copyleft / proprietary licenses?
Yes. The W3C license permits W3C code to be used in other (non-copyleft) licenses or even proprietary software.

Reading the license it seems not possible as the notice requirement seem more elaborate on the w3c license than the bsd-3-clause.

[iherman]

@FlorianLudwig, I am not sure what you are looking for; but @wseltzer may be able to answer your questions on W3C licenses.

(#37 may also be relevant)

[FlorianLudwig]

@iherman I am looking for a clear answer if it is possible to copy code from w3c-licensed projects to other non-w3c-licensed projects. From what I understand; if code would be copied from rdflib/owl-rl to rdflib/rdflib the copyright notice of rdflib/rdflib would have to be altered to mention these two requirements from the license:

Any pre-existing intellectual property disclaimers, notices, or terms and conditions. If none exist, the W3C Software and Document Short Notice should be included.
Notice of any changes or modifications, through a copyright statement on the new code or document such as "This software or document includes material copied from or derived from [title and URI of the W3C document]. Copyright © [YEAR] W3C® (MIT, ERCIM, Keio, Beihang)."

And the third requirement:

The full text of this NOTICE in a location viewable to users of the redistributed or derivative work.

Is also different from what is in the bsc-3-clause license has to say about where to reproduce the copyright/license notice. The w3c one explicitly mentions "viewable to the users" whereas bsd license:

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.

Which are somewhat different terms and legally not exchangeable.

I am not a lawyer though ;)

[iherman]

@FlorianLudwig I am not a lawyer either, but @wseltzer is... :-) She should give you an authoritative answer.

[wseltzer]

Hi @FlorianLudwig , the goal of the W3C software license is to make code available for free re-use with attribution and disclaimer of warranty. If you're encountering an issue with the terms of the attribution, let me know, as we can likely find something that works.