IBM OS/2 Products Licensing Analysis

I took some time to read the IBM DDKs available for OS/2 and try to check which licenses allows the samples to create open source derivate work.

IBM Device Driver Kit - 2004
The license says:

 IBM Developer Connection DDK Roadmap

LICENSE AGREEMENT FOR THE IBM DEVICE DRIVER KIT FOR OS/2 This is a legal agreement between you (either an individual or an entity) and the IBM Corporation for the purpose of developing device drivers for OS/2*.

YOUR USE OF THIS PRODUCT IS CONDITIONED UPON YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT. INSTALLING AND/OR USING THE PRODUCT INDICATES YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PROMPTLY RETURN THE PRODUCT TO IBM.

The Product consists of: (1) the IBM Code, (2) Tools and Lib Code and (3) On-Line Written Materials. See individual directories for details.

1. Grant of License for the IBM Code

IBM grants to you a non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable right, under the applicable IBM copyrights, to use one copy of the enclosed IBM Code on a single computer for the sole purposes of designing, developing and testing derivative work(s) which are device drivers for the OS/2 program (the "OS/2 Device Driver"). However, the Adobe Font Matrixes (AFM files) and the Postscript Printer Descriptions (PPD) provided as part of the IBM Code are not modifiable and may not be altered in any way from their original form.

In addition, IBM grants to you the non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable right, under the applicable IBM copyrights, to reproduce and distribute, in object code form only, the IBM Code and/or the permitted derivative work thereof, but only in conjunction with and as part of the OS/2 Device Driver and only if you: a) do not make any statements to the effect or which imply that the OS/2 Device Driver is "certified" by IBM or that its performance is guaranteed by IBM and b) agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend IBM and its subsidiaries and their suppliers from and against any and all claims, legal proceedings, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses, including attorney's fees, arising out of or in connection with your distribution of the IBM Code and/or the OS/2 Device Driver.

You must reproduce any copyright notice(s) on each copy, or partial copy, of the IBM Code. If you redistribute any of the AFM and/or PPD files you must include the following copyright notice: "Copyright 1988, 1989 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved".

Under this license you may not:

a. use, copy, modify, display or merge copies of the IBM Code except as provided in this agreement;

b. reverse assemble or reverse compile the IBM Code provided in object code form;

c. distribute, sublicense, rent, lease, assign or transfer the IBM Code, except as provided in this agreement; or

d. disclose, display, disseminate, market or distribute source code of either the IBM Code or the OS/2 Device Driver in any media, except for your own internal use by you or your full-time employees on a need to know basis on your premises.

2. Grant of License for Tools and Lib Code

IBM grants to you a non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable right, under the applicable IBM copyrights, to use the Tools and Lib Code, in object code form only, and only for your internal use and for the sole purposes of designing, developing and testing the OS/2 Device Driver.

Under this license you may not:

a. use or copy the Tools and Lib Code except as provided in this agreement;

b. modify, display, or merge copies of Tools and Lib Code;

c. reverse assemble or reverse compile the Tools and Lib Code;

d. distribute, sublicense, rent, lease, assign or transfer the Tools and Lib Code;

3. Grant of License for OnLine Written Materials

IBM grants you a non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable rights, under the applicable IBM copyrights, to use the Online Written Materials solely for your internal use and solely for the purposes of designing, developing and testing the OS/2 Device Drivers.

Under this license you may not :

a. use the Online Written Materials except as provided in this agreement;

b. copy, modify, display, or merge the Online Written Materials; or

c. distribute, sublicense, rent, lease, assign or transfer the Online Written Materials.

4. Non-Disclosure

You expressly undertake to retain in trust and confidence all information and know-how transmitted to you by IBM that IBM has identified as proprietary or confidential or that by the nature of the circumstances surrounding the disclosure ought in good faith to be treated as proprietary or confidential, (including, but not limited to, source code) and you agree that you will make no use of such information and know-how except under the terms of this agreement. You are required to execute appropriate written agreements with your employees, consultants and distributors sufficient to enable you to comply with all provisions of this agreement. The above non-disclosure provisions shall terminate when the confidential information or source code becomes publicly available through no fault of yours or for a period of 10 years from disclosure. In addition, you agree to maintain adequate procedures to prevent loss of any materials contained in the Product. You agree to notify IBM of any such loss immediately.

5. Disclaimer of Warranty

THE PRODUCT (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IBM CODE, TOOLS AND LIB CODE, AND ONLINE WRITTEN MATERIALS) IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY. IBM EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OF NON-INFRINGEMENT.

THE PRODUCT MAY INCLUDE CODE AND DOCUMENTATION WHICH MAY CONTAIN PRE-RELEASE MATERIAL THAT MAY BE MODIFIED SUBSTANTIALLY BEFORE GENERAL AVAILABILITY. THE PRE-RELEASE CODE AND DOCUMENTATION MAY NOT BE AT THE LEVEL OF PERFORMANCE OR COMPATIBILITY OF GENERALLY AVAILABLE IBM PRODUCTS. IBM DOES NOT GUARANTEE THAT ANY OF THE PRE-RELEASE CODE OR DOCUMENTATION CONTAINED IN THE PRODUCT WILL EVER BE MADE GENERALLY AVAILABLE.

6. Limitation of Remedy

IN NO EVENT SHALL IBM, ITS SUBSIDIARIES AND THEIR SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES EVEN IF IBM, ITS SUBSIDIARIES OR THEIR SUPPLIERS ARE ADVISED OF, OR ARE AWARE OF, THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO, LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOSS OF BUSINESS INFORMATION, BUSINESS INTERRUPTION, AND LOST SAVINGS. IBM AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES CLAIMED BY YOU BASED ON ANY THIRD PARTY CLAIMS.

This limitation of remedies also applies to any developer of the Product. IBM's and the developer's limitation of remedies are not cumulative. Such developer is an intended beneficiary of this Section.

7. General

You may make one copy of the Product for backup or archival purposes.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of implied warranties or consequential damages, so they may not apply to you. You may terminate your license at any time. IBM may terminate your license if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this agreement. In either event, you must destroy all your copies of the Product. If either party terminates this license, the non-disclosure provisions of this license shall survive any such termination.

You are responsible for payment of any taxes, including personal property taxes, resulting from this license.

If you acquire the Product in the United States, this agreement is controlled by the substantive laws governing contracts made and entirely performed in the State of New York. If you acquire the Product in Canada, this agreement is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario. Otherwise, this agreement is governed by the laws of the country in which you acquired the Product. However, United States patent and copyright law shall apply in all cases.

The export of this Product is restricted by U.S. export regulations, and you agree to do everything necessary to comply with these regulations.



This is definitely bad for open source.

 In addition, IBM grants to you the non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable right, under the applicable IBM copyrights, to reproduce and distribute, in object code form only, the IBM Code and/or the permitted derivative work thereof.... 

Any driver that uses the 2004 DDK can not be open sourced and shared the source code to the general public. A possible workaround will be to check older DDK and see if the license is the same.

Other possible workaround is to have an organization to consolidate the source code as "close source", but that the organization has an open spirit, their members can code the private project and share the binaries only.

IBM SOMobjects Developer Toolkit V. 3.0
The samples of this Toolkit says:

/* *  * DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES. * The following [enclosed] code is sample code created by IBM * Corporation. This sample code is not part of any standard or IBM * product and is provided to you solely for the purpose of assisting * you in the development of your applications. The code is provided * "AS IS". IBM MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT * NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS * FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING THE FUNCTION OR PERFORMANCE OF * THIS CODE. IBM shall not be liable for any damages arising out of * your use of the sample code, even if they have been advised of the * possibility of such damages. * * DISTRIBUTION. * This sample code can be freely distributed, copied, altered, and * incorporated into other software, provided that it bears the above * Copyright notice and DISCLAIMER intact. */

This mean that this samples source code can be included on other products and even released under an open source license. But remember to include the "Copyright notice and DISCLAIMER intact".

This source code is available at Github

IBM Showcase CD
Here it is the license:

 IBM PROGRAM LICENSE AGREEMENT

FOR CD SHOWCASE (TM)

THIS PROGRAM  (CD SHOWCASE) IS DESIGNED TO ALLOW YOU TO OB- TAIN INFORMATION ABOUT OTHER COPYRIGHTED PROGRAMS AND MATE- RIALS ON  THIS CD-ROM. THESE OTHER PROGRAMS AND MATERIALS MAY BE ELECTRONICALLY LOCKED AND THEIR USE MAY BE SUBJECT TO SPECIFIC TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

IF YOU USE THIS PROGRAM, YOU AGREE TO THE  FOLLOWING  TERMS AND CONDITIONS. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, PLEASE RETURN THIS CD-ROM TO THE ORGANIZATION YOU OBTAINED IT FROM.

The Program is licensed not sold. International Business Ma- chines Corporation, or the applicable IBM country organiza- tion, (IBM)  grants  you  a license for the Program only in  countries in which IBM markets  programs. You obtain  no  rights other than those granted you under this license.

The term "Program" means the copy of the program provided to you. IBM retains title to the Program. IBM owns, or has li- censed from the owner, copyrights in the Program.

1. License

Under this license, you may:

a. use  the  Program  only for the purpose of obtaining information about other programs and/or materials on         the CD-ROM and for deciding which of those you  wish to order; and

b. transfer  your  copy of the Program to a third party provided you transfer a copy of this license.

You may not:

a. copy, modify, or merge into another program;

b. reverse assemble or reverse compile the Program  ex- cept as  specifically  permitted by law without the possibility of contractual waiver; or

c. sublicense, rent, or assign the Program.

2. Key Files

As part  of  ordering programs or materials, associated "key file(s)"(as,  for   example,   the   files   named      Filename.KEY) may be created. Key files are licensed to     you under the terms of this license. In addition:

a. if the license for the software allows you to trans- fer that software to a third party, you agree to de- stroy the  associated  key  file  when you make the transfer; and

b. you may move the key for  your  own  use  consistent with the terms and conditions of the product license with which the key is associated.

3. Limited Warranty

THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED 'AS IS' WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIM- ITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF  MERCHANTABILITY  AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. The entire risk as to     the quality and performance of the Program is with you.

IBM does not warrant that the functions contained in the Program will meet your requirements or that the  opera- tion of the Program will be uninterrupted or error free.

However, IBM warrants the media on which the Program is      furnished, to be free  from  defects  in  materials  and workmanship under normal use.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties, so the above exclusion may not apply to you.

4. Limitations of Remedies

IBM's entire liability under this license is the follow- ing:

IBM will replace defective media. For any claim (includ-     ing fundamental breach), in any form, related in any way to this license, IBM's liability will be for actual dam- ages only  and  will be limited to the equivalent of US      $10,000 in your local currency.

This limitation will not apply to claims for bodily in- jury or  damages  to real or tangible personal property for which IBM is legally liable.

IBM will not be  liable  for  any  lost  profits,  lost savings, or  any  incidental  damages or other economic consequential damages, even if IBM, or  its  authorized supplier, has  been  advised of the possibility of such damages. IBM will not be liable for any damages claimed by you based on any third party claim.

Some jurisdictions do not allow these limitations or ex- clusions, so they may not apply to you.

5. General

You may terminate your license at any time. IBM may ter- minate your license if you fail to comply with the terms and conditions of this license. In any event you may de- stroy all your copies of the Program.

You are responsible for payment of any taxes, including property taxes resulting from this license.

Neither party may bring an action, regardless of  form, more than two years after the cause of action arose.

IBM does not warrant any non-IBM product on this CD-ROM.

If you  acquired the Program in the Unites States, this license is governed by the laws of  the  State  of  New York. If you  acquired the Program in Canada, this li- cense is governed  by  the  laws  of  the  Province  of      Ontario. Otherwise, this license is governed by the laws of the country in which you acquired the Program. 

This license does not explain if the sample source code can be open sourced.

CD #4 - Sample Source Code
The license agreement of this CD says:

8.- The PROGRAM may contain sample programs that are furnished by IBM as examples. These examples have not been thoroughly tested under all conditions. IBM, therefore, cannot guarantee or imply reliability, serviceability, or function of these sample programs. You may copy, modify, and distribute these sample programs in any form without payment to IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing and distributing application programs conforming to the application programming interface for the operating platform for which the sample programs are written, provided that: * You agree to defend, hold harmless and indemnify IBM from and against any and all claims, liabilities, damages, expenses and costs arising out of or in connection with your use or distribution of the sample programs, modifications thereof, or your application program(s); and * You do not state that IBM certifies or guarantees the operation of the sample programs or modifications thereof, with any hardware and/or software. Each copy or partial copy of sample programs or any modifications thereof, must include a copyright notice as follows: (C) Copyright (your company name) (year). Portions of this code are derived from IBM Sample Programs. (C) Copyright IBM Corp. 1997. All rights reserved.

This mean that this samples source code can be included on other products and even released under an open source license. But remember to include the "Copyright notice and DISCLAIMER intact".

IBM Developer Connection Release 2 Program
Check the full IBM Developer Connection Release 2 Program License.

The license indicated:

The IBM OS/2 Developer's Toolkits contained in the PROGRAM include header files, include files, and audio files. These files have extensions of .H, .HH, .XH, .INC, and .WAV. The Toolkits also contain programming tutorials illustrating OS/2 and multimedia programming techniques. Both executable and source files for these tutorials are included. You may copy and distribute the above header files, include files, audio files, and programming turorials in any form without payment to IBM, for the purposes of developing, using, marketing, and distributing application programs written to the OS/2 and MMPM/2 application programming interface. Each copy or any portion of these programming tutorials or any derivative work thereof, which are distributed to others, must include a copyright notice as follows: "c Copyright (your company name) (year). All Rights Reserved."

This is good for some headers and documentation included on IBM OS/2 Developer's Toolkit.

 The OS/2 Device Drivers consist of: (1) IBM Code, (2) Tools and Lib Code and (3) On-Line Written Materials. See individual directories for details.

IBM Code Additional License Terms

You may use the IBM Code for the sole purposes of designing, developing and testing derivative work(s) which are device drivers for the OS/2 program (the "OS/2 Device Driver"). However, the Adobe Font Matrixes (AFM files) and the Postscript Printer Descriptions (PPD) provided as part of the IBM Code are not modifiable and may not be altered in any way from their original form.

In addition, IBM grants to you the non-exclusive, non-assignable, non-transferable right, under the applicable IBM copyrights, to reproduce and distribute, in object code form only, the IBM Code and/or the permitted derivative work thereof, but only in conjunction with and as part of the OS/2 Device Driver and only if you:

1. Do not make any statements to the effect or which imply that the OS/2 Device Driver is "certified" by IBM or that its performance is guaranteed by IBM

2. Agree to indemnify, hold harmless and defend IBM and its subsidiaries and their suppliers from and against any and all claims, legal proceedings, liabilities, damages, costs and expenses, including attorney's fees, arising out of or in connection with your distribution of the IBM Code and/or the OS/2 Device Driver.

You must reproduce any copyright notice(s) on each copy, or partial copy, of the IBM Code. If you redistribute any of the AFM and/or PPD files you must include the following copyright notice: "Copyright 1988,1989 Adobe Systems Incorporated. All Rights Reserved."

Under this license you may not: 1. Display copies of this IBM Code except as provided in this agreement. 2. Disclose, display, disseminate, market or distribute source code of either the IBM Code or the OS/2 Device Driver in any media, except for your own internal use by you or your full-time employees on a need to know basis on your premises. 

This is very bad for the OS/2 drivers source code. It the same part of the IBM DKK license.