Feasibility of integrating an Aqua interface

[Werner Randelshofer]

Hi Landon,

There are none - that's exactly my point - Apple does not license  
their artwork to third parties.
That's why we must restrict usage of the Aqua interface in OpenJDK to  
Mac OS X.


There is a developer license program for some of Apple's products, as  
well as for some logos and badges here:
http://developer.apple.com/softwarelicensing/


Aqua can not be licensed here. Here is what Apple has to say about  
licensing in general:

"Regardless of whether your product will be sold, used internally, or  
bundled with other products, if you wish to use Apple software and/or  
technologies, you need to obtain a license from Apple to do so.  
Apple's Software Licensing Department works with developers, user  
groups, and others to ensure they are properly licensed for many of  
Apple technologies."


And here is the licensing FAQ page:
http://developer.apple.com/faq/softwarelicensing.html

Here is the first FAQ question:

"1. Who needs to be licensed?
If you use all or part of any Apple software in a program that will be  
distributed to other people, you need to license the use of that  
software from Apple Computer, Inc. Apple Trademarks must also be  
licensed for use. This is true whether the product will be sold, used  
internally,or given away. It's true for commercial vendors and  
educators. It's true for old, new, and future Apple products.  
Licensable Apple Software and Trademarks include QuickTime, Apple Game  
Sprockets, OpenGL, Open Transport, the Mac OS Logo, the FireWire  
Trademark and Built for MacOS X Logo, and others. Software Licensing  
Agreements in Adobe Acrobat format."

Again, Aqua is not listed as a licensable software.



Aqua is part of Mac OS X, therefore the license terms for Mac OS X  
apply to Aqua:
http://store.apple.com/Catalog/US/Images/MacOSX.htm

Mac OS X is an operating system which allows to run software developed  
by anybody on any platform.

It even ships with development tools - but that's not even relevant.


In the Swiss jurisdiction, this is enough to allow us to write  
software for Mac OS X which uses an Aqua interface.  We may freely use  
other platforms to develop a software with an Aqua interface for Mac  
OS X.

It is definitely not enough to allow us to use the Aqua interface on  
other platforms since there is no expressed permission by Apple.

Of course, I am not a lawyer, especially none who knows the legal  
implications of this in other countries than Switzerland. But for me,  
in my country, it would be fine to integrate Quaqua into OpenJDK as  
long as I ensure that end users can't use it on other platforms. :)


-Werner


On 02.12.2007, at 20:20, Landon Fuller wrote:

>
> On Dec 2, 2007, at 5:52 AM, Werner Randelshofer wrote:
>
>> Except for having to restrict end user usage of the Aqua interface  
>> to Mac OS X, there appear to be no other limitations imposed by  
>> Apple Inc. which are legally binding. (At least not in my  
>> jurisdiction which is Switzerland).
>> After all, there is a Windows Look and Feel in OpenJDK with no more  
>> limitations than this. But maybe Sun entered a special license  
>> agreement with Microsoft for this. (?)
>
> Hi Werner --
>
> Google's drawing a blank -- do you know where I can find the license  
> terms for Apple's Aqua artwork?
>
> Thanks!
> Landon
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://mail.openjdk.java.net/pipermail/porters-dev/attachments/20071202/30718d1d/attachment.html