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LICENSE: new terms
author Mychaela Falconia <falcon@freecalypso.org>
date Tue, 14 Apr 2020 20:26:40 +0000
parents 377c7af2f438
children
comparison
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188:049091077b51 189:d78986760e92
1 Copyright status of code
2 ========================
3
4 Every current FreeCalypso GSM firmware offering consists of two subdivisions
5 of code with different ownership:
6
7 1) All FreeCalypso GSM firmware offerings are based on TCS211 and TCS3.2 GSM
8 firmware deliveries from TI.
9
10 2) Every FreeCalypso GSM firmware offering also contains highly significant
11 new code developed in the context of FreeCalypso by Mother Mychaela; these
12 value-added changes and new developments which differentiate FreeCalypso
13 from TI's original are highly significant, these changes and additions are
14 what makes our FreeCalypso GSM firmwares valuable and practically usable
15 unlike the fragmented bits and pieces of TI's original code found on the
16 Internet, and we (FreeCalypso) shall vigorously pursue every available form
17 of Intellectual Property protection in defending our rightful interest in
18 these value-added new developments.
19
20 All FreeCalypso GSM firmware offerings constitute Derivative Works under U.S.
21 copyright law, derived from previous works that were produced and copyrighted
22 by TI, but also containing highly significant original work that is deserving
23 of copyright protection.
24
25 The present version of this LICENSE file supercedes any previous versions that
26 may have been committed into this Mercurial version control repository at any
27 time in the past. Anyone who downloads or clones code from this Mercurial
28 source repository after the posting date of this LICENSE notice must agree to
29 the terms of this license, even if you choose to work with an older version of
30 the actual code. If you do not agree with this license, then you have no right
31 to download or use our code at all.
32
33 Portions of code taken from TI
34 ==============================
35
36 All TI-owned code that has been incorporated into FreeCalypso originates from
37 the following four sources in this order of importance, from most to least
38 significant:
39
40 a) TCS211 firmware semi-src (partial source + objects) delivery dated
41 2007-06-08;
42
43 b) TCS3.2_N5.24_M18_V1.11_M23BTH_PSL1_src.zip LoCosto firmware delivery dated
44 2009-03-27;
45
46 c) Fragments of TCS211 firmware source contained in the MV100-0.1.rar Internet
47 find, dated 2004-07-02 or earlier;
48
49 d) Bits of Layer1 code from the TSM30 source published by HispaPhreak in 2004,
50 dated 2003-11-06 or earlier.
51
52 All of this code is presumed to be copyrighted by Texas Instruments (TI), with
53 a copyright year of 2009 or earlier.
54
55 Because TI no longer provides any support for their discontinued GSM baseband
56 chips or for their associated firmware, the exact licensing terms for their
57 code are unclear. We (FreeCalypso) have repeatedly reached out to TI over the
58 years, explaining in our letters to TI exactly what we are doing with their old
59 code and asking for licensing clarification, but never received any response.
60
61 In the absence of any communication from TI telling us otherwise, we operate on
62 the assumption that the license terms applicable to the code we are using from
63 TI are the same as customary in the semiconductor device industry as a whole.
64 It is customary in the industry for makers of many complex integrated circuit
65 (IC) chips to also produce specialized firmware that is required in order to
66 use these chips effectively; if any given semiconductor device company X is
67 primarily in the business of making and selling IC chips and provides firmware
68 solely as an accessory to those chips rather than as a product in its own right,
69 then the following license terms are generally customary for all such firmware
70 articles throughout the industry:
71
72 * Because the firmware is a required accessory for making use of the chips and
73 because the chips rather than the firmware are the revenue-generating product,
74 IC chip makers almost universally license their firmware under terms that
75 allow unlimited use of the firmware FOR AS LONG AS that firmware is used
76 together with chips bought from the company, and not otherwise.
77
78 * It is generally considered severe misuse and likely copyright infringement or
79 IP theft to take some company's firmware and use it WITHOUT buying the
80 original chips for which that firmware was made.
81
82 Back to FreeCalypso and TI, we (FreeCalypso) use TI's code ONLY by way of
83 running it on genuine TI-made Calypso chips which we buy on various IC surplus
84 markets. Even though these chips were originally made by TI decades ago and TI
85 has likely lost all institutional memory of them, the fact remains that at some
86 point in the distant past these chips were legitimately sold by and bought from
87 TI, with all subsequent transfers of ownership falling under the first-sale
88 doctrine. When these chips were first sold by TI decades ago, they were
89 accompanied by a license for the associated firmware to be used together with
90 the chips, and we make the argument that because the firmware is a required
91 accessory for using the chips and has been so from the beginning, as the
92 ownership of our TI-made chips passed down the chain, the license to the
93 associated firmware rides along with the physical chips, following the same
94 first-sale doctrine.
95
96 We (FreeCalypso) absolutely do not condone or encourage anyone to use TI's
97 firmware without TI-made chips, and we never engage in any such misuse
98 ourselves. Anyone who attempts to port TI's firmware to some non-TI chipset
99 platform or otherwise use it without TI-made chips will very likely be
100 infringing on TI's copyright, as TI had developed the firmware solely for use
101 together with their chips, and use without TI-made chips would constitute theft
102 of their work. We shall not provide any assistance whatsoever to anyone
103 seeking to port the present firmware to a non-TI chipset or to an SDR setup or
104 any other arrangement that is not firmly cemented around TI-made Calypso chips,
105 as doing so would almost certainly go against TI's reasonable rights.
106
107 Because we use TI's code only by way of running it on genuine TI-made Calypso
108 chips, in the absence of TI telling us otherwise, we have every good reason to
109 believe that our manner of using TI's firmware code is fully consistent with
110 TI's original intent in the way it was developed and licensed, and is therefore
111 fully lawful and not infringing in any way.
112
1 FreeCalypso original work 113 FreeCalypso original work
2 ========================= 114 =========================
3 115
4 The present FreeCalypso firmware is a derived work based on TI's TCS211 and 116 All code we got from TI dates from 2009 or earlier; absolutely no activity by
5 TCS3.2 firmwares. However, even though it is based on these two starting points 117 any party took place between 2009 and 2013, and all new development from 2013
6 from TI, our FreeCalypso fw is a software product in its own right, and is NOT 118 onward is original to FreeCalypso. All changes and additions to TI's code base
7 merely a "hacked" copy of some TI firmware. The particular way in which we have 119 that have been made within the context of FreeCalypso from 2013 to the present
8 combined and integrated pieces from TCS211 and from TCS3.2 to produce our 120 are the work of Mother Mychaela Nadezhda Falconia and are copyrighted as such:
9 TCS2/TCS3 hybrid, our meticulous source reconstruction of TCS211 L1 that 121
10 originally came in binary object form, our completely new and original firmware 122 Copyright (C) Mychaela N. Falconia, 2013-2020, All rights reserved
11 configuration and build system, all of our new code that supports new board- 123
12 level hardware targets that use TI chips but aren't TI's historical development 124 Changes and additions falling under Falconia copyright include all of the
13 boards, and all other significant new developments made in FreeCalypso 125 following:
14 constitute our own original work. 126
15 127 * The novel and innovative way in which components from TI's TCS211 and TCS3.2
16 All original work in FreeCalypso that is not directly traceable to some 128 firmwares have been stitched together in order to produce our signature
17 historical TI code component has been written by Mother Mychaela Nadezhda 129 TCS2/TCS3 hybrid (resulting in firmware that runs on Calypso rather than
18 Falconia, and I refuse to claim copyright on this software work. I hereby 130 LoCosto, yet at the same time is fully recompilable from source) is hereby
19 immediately place this work in the public domain; it may be used, copied, 131 claimed to be sufficiently creative and original to be deserving of copyright
20 distorted or destroyed in any manner whatsoever without further attribution 132 protection in the 17 USC 101 definition of a "compilation".
21 or notice to the creator. 133
22 134 * All instances of translation from disassembly to C (producing recompilable C
23 Code pieces from TI 135 code that replaces components which were previously available only as linkable
24 =================== 136 binary objects) are Mother Mychaela's creative work falling under Falconia
25 137 copyright. This category critically includes the tpudrv12.c time-based RF
26 In the case of those code components which originate from TI, we did not get 138 driver and the OSL and OSX components of GPF.
27 them *from* TI per se, instead we have found them freely on the Internet. I, 139
28 Mother Mychaela, have made multiple attempts to reach out to TI, informing them 140 * All changes for compiling with a GNU gcc+binutils toolchain instead of TI's
29 about the existence of our FreeCalypso family of projects and what I am doing 141 TMS470 compiler, included in FC Citrine, FC Selenite and future FC firmwares.
30 with their old abandoned software IP. I was not able to get any positive 142 These changes include newly written assembly code and linker scripts.
31 response from them in the form of support or help with obtaining those pieces 143
32 of historical code and documentation which are still missing, but they have not 144 * All FreeCalypso firmware configuration and build systems are original to
33 taken any adverse action against us either; specifically, they never said 145 Falconia and do not originate from TI at all. This category includes the
34 explicitly that they object to what I am doing (producing and freely 146 Makefile hierarchy and Bourne shell code in FC Citrine, the Bourne shell-based
35 distributing my own Derived Works based on their abandonware IP), and they 147 Makefile generation system of FC Magnetite, and all future FC firmware
36 never asked me to stop doing so. 148 configuration and build systems based on these two.
37 149
38 Based on the fact that TI have chosen to not take any action against our family 150 * All conditional compilation changes that make it possible to build our
39 of projects despite being fully informed and having been given multiple 151 firmwares for various Calypso targets, both new and historical, that are not
40 opportunities to do so over the course of many years, we hereby make the 152 Openmoko GTA01 or GTA02 modems.
41 reasonable conclusion that TI do not object to us using their fully abandoned 153
42 and discontinued IP as if it were Free Software, and I, Mother Mychaela, shall 154 * The quite-different-from-TI FFS configuration in FC Citrine, including the
43 continue doing the same for as long as I am alive and physically able. 155 FFS-in-RAM trick that is original to FreeCalypso.
156
157 * All support for newer (post-TI) flash chips in FC Magnetite, FC Selenite and
158 all future FC firmwares based on the Magnetite/Selenite line.
159
160 * The mechanism for passing AT commands and responses over the RVTMUX interface
161 is novel and original to FreeCalypso, likewise falling under Falconia
162 copyright.
163
164 * FreeCalypso-added AT@VPATH and AT@VSEL mechanisms for using the Calypso chip's
165 MCSI digital voice interface for purposes other than just Bluetooth.
166
167 * All other changes and additions to TI's code base that have been implemented
168 in FreeCalypso since 2013 and through the present.
169
170 License terms
171 =============
172
173 For all FreeCalypso GSM firmware offerings that contain Falconia-copyrighted
174 code and other changes and additions that fall under Falconia copyright, the
175 following three (3) modes of usage are allowed without requiring any license
176 fee payment:
177
178 1) Using FreeCalypso GSM firmware on Falconia-made FreeCalypso hardware: those
179 who purchase FreeCalypso hardware products (board-level hardware) from
180 Falconia Partners LLC, as well as any downstream possessors of these physical
181 products under the first-sale doctrine, are hereby given a license to use all
182 of our FreeCalypso firmware versions *on that Falconia-made hardware* for any
183 purpose whatsoever, without restrictions on commercial usage, including the
184 right to make any arbitrary modifications of your choosing to our code base,
185 for as long as our firmware or any derivative works based on our firmware are
186 used ONLY on Falconia-made hardware units.
187
188 2) End user usage: in the case of those firmware configurations for which
189 official binary end user releases are provided, downloading prebuilt
190 official binary firmware images from freecalypso.org and installing them on
191 the hardware they are intended for, including hardware models produced by
192 manufacturers other than Falconia, is always permitted without any further
193 conditions or restrictions. Please note that this permission applies ONLY
194 to official FreeCalypso firmware releases; if you make any changes of your
195 own to our firmware, then this permission no longer applies - instead you
196 would need to qualify under one of the other two permissions.
197
198 3) Non-commercial hobbyist tinkerer usage: personal hobbyists, tinkerers and
199 enthusiasts are allowed and encouraged to play with our firmware as much as
200 they like, including running the firmware on whatever hardware you like and
201 making whatever modifications you like, as long as your usage is strictly
202 non-commercial. Users in this category are considered to be peers and equal
203 colleagues to the Mother, and will be given the warmest welcome in the
204 FreeCalypso community. Any TI lorekeepers are included in this category and
205 are most especially welcome.
206
207 Restrictions on commercial usage
208 ================================
209
210 There is one specific form of usage which is expressly prohibited without
211 payment of a license fee: namely, for-profit commercial usage of FreeCalypso
212 GSM firmware on non-Falconia-made hardware that does not fit under end user
213 usage permission as defined above. Anyone who creates a derivative work based
214 on FreeCalypso GSM fw, modified in ways which are not endorsed or approved of
215 in any way by the Mother, and then uses that FreeCalypso-based derivative work
216 as part of a purely commercial for-profit venture or enterprise must either buy
217 FreeCalypso hardware from Falconia Partners LLC and limit their commercial use
218 of FreeCalypso-based derivative works to just that Falconia-made hardware, or
219 buy a commercial license (for a to-be-negotiated price depending on the exact
220 nature of your commercial usage) from copyright holder Mychaela N. Falconia,
221 allowing commercial use on non-Falconia-made hardware. Doing otherwise
222 constitutes severe infringement on Mother Mychaela's copyright.
223
224 No part of Mother Mychaela's FreeCalypso family of projects has *ever* been
225 intended to serve as a free giveaway or handout of tools or software components
226 or any other materials to for-profit commercial entities, instead the ONLY
227 parties to whom I (copyright holder Mychaela N. Falconia) grant permission to
228 use my software and firmware on a "gift" basis (not requiring purchase of my
229 hardware or a license fee payment in lieu thereof) are personal hobbyist
230 tinkerers and end users as defined in the previous section. It is my natural
231 right as the author of a highly creative work of many years to decide who gets
232 to use it for free and who does not, and in my capacity as the rightful
233 copyright holder I deem it so that if you use my work as part of any commercial
234 for-profit venture or enterprise that does not provide any value or benefit
235 whatsoever to what _I_ define as the FreeCalypso community, then I am legally
236 entitled in my capacity as the copyright holder to require payment for such
237 peculiar use of my creative work.
238
239 Redistribution and derivative works
240 ===================================
241
242 For as long as I (Mother Mychaela) am alive, for as long as I contunue to
243 actively serve in my current position as the Mother of FreeCalypso, and for as
244 long as the official FreeCalypso source code repositories at freecalypso.org
245 remain up and publicly serving, reposting or redistribution of FreeCalypso GSM
246 firmware source code via any other Internet sites is NOT permitted. Unaltered
247 official binary firmware release images downloaded from freecalypso.org may be
248 freely redistributed in any medium without restrictions.
249
250 As far as derivative works go, the only parties who may legally produce such
251 derivative works under the terms of the present license without payment of a
252 commercial license fee are either non-commercial personal hobbyist tinkerers or
253 lawful owners of Falconia-made FreeCalypso hardware devices. If you have made
254 some modifications of your own to FreeCalypso GSM firmware and have done so on
255 a strictly non-commercial basis, i.e., NOT in connection with any kind of
256 for-profit venture or enterprise, and you would like to share your modified
257 version with other non-commercial hobbyists, enthusiasts or tinkerers, then I
258 am very much open to such sharing, but you MUST contact me first to work out
259 the details. This contact requirement is unfortunately necessary in order to
260 deter predatory and exploitative for-profit commercial misuses of the work.