The Free Software Foundation Releases New Comments About Licenses

'We recently published a number of updates to our licensing materials,' the Free Software Foundation announced Thursday, adding that 'While we generally post individual announcements for these types of important changes, there were so many in such a short span that we needed to combine them all in one place.'
We added the Commons Clause to our list of nonfree licenses. Not a stand-alone license in and of itself, it is meant to be added to an existing free license to prevent using the work commercially, rendering the work nonfree. It's particularly nasty given that the name, and the fact that it is attached to pre-existing free licenses, may make it seem as if the work is still free software.
If a previously existing project that was under a free license adds the Commons Clause, users should work to fork that program and continue using it under the free license. If it isn't worth forking, users should simply avoid the package. We are glad to see that in the case of Redis modules using the Commons Clause, people are stepping up to maintain free versions.
There's also a new addition to their GNU Licenses FAQ which explains what the GNU GPL says about translating code into another programming language. ('If the original program carries a free license, that license gives permission to translate it. How you can use and license the translated program is determined by that license. If the original program is licensed under certain versions of the GNU GPL, the translated program must be covered by the same versions of the GNU GPL...') And they've also clarified how to handle projects that combine code under multiple compatible licenses.

The FSF has also updated a document commenting on various licenses, clarifying that the Fraunhofer FDK AAC free software license 'is incompatible with any version of the GNU GPL. It has a special danger in the form of a term expressly stating it does not grant you any patent licenses, with an enticement to buy some.

'Because of this, and because the license author is a known patent aggressor, we encourage you to be careful about using or redistributing any software under this license...'

Read more of this story at Slashdot.