POLICY ON COMMERCIAL USE AND DISTRIBUTION OF KERMIT Frank da Cruz Columbia University Center for Computing Activities June 1984 The KERMIT file transfer protocol has always been open, available, and free to all. The protocol was developed at the Columbia University Center for Computing Activities, as were the first several KERMIT programs. Columbia has shared these programs freely with the worldwide computing community since 1981, and as a result many individuals and institutions have contributed their own improvements or new implementations in the same spirit. In this manner, the number of different systems supporting KERMIT implementations has grown from three to about sixty in less than three years. If Columbia had elected to keep the protocol secret, to restrict access to source code, or to license the software, the protocol would never have spread to cover so many systems, nor would the programs be in use at so many sites, nor would the quality of many of the implemementations be so high. Although KERMIT is free and available to anyone who requests it, it is not in the "public domain". The protocol, the manuals, the Columbia implementations, and many of the contributed implementations bear copyright notices dated 1981 or later, and include a legend like Permission is granted to any individual or institution to copy or use this document and the programs described in it, except for explicitly commercial purposes. This copyright notice is to protect KERMIT, Columbia University, and the various contributors from having their work usurped by others and sold as a product. In addition, the covering letter which we include with a KERMIT tape states that KERMIT can be passed along to others; "we ask only that profit not be your goal, credit be given where it is due, and that new material be sent back to us so that we can maintain a definitive and comprehensive set of KERMIT implementations". Within this framework, it is acceptable to charge a reproduction fee when supplying KERMIT to others. The reproduction fee may be designed to recover costs of media, packaging, printing, shipping, order processing, or any computer use required for reproduction. The fee should not reflect any program or documentation development effort, and it should be be independent of how many implementations of KERMIT appear on the medium or where they came from. It should not be viewed as a license fee. For instance, when Columbia ships a KERMIT tape, there is a $100.00 reproduction fee which includes a 2400' reel of magnetic tape, two printed manuals, various flyers, a box, and postage; there is an additional $100.00 order processing charge if an invoice must be sent. The tape includes all known versions of KERMIT, including sources and documentation. Commercial institutions may make unlimited internal use of KERMIT. However, a question raised with increasing frequency is whether a company may incorporate KERMIT into its products. A hardware vendor may wish to include KERMIT with its standard software. A software house may wish to incorporate KERMIT protocol into its communications package, or to distribute it along with some other product. A timesharing vendor or dialup database may wish to provide KERMIT for downloading. All these uses of KERMIT are permissible, with the following provisos: . A KERMIT program may not be sold as a product in and of itself. In addition to violating the prevailing spirit of sharing and cooperation, commercial sale of a product called "KERMIT" would violate the trade mark which is held on that name by Henson Associates, Inc., creators of The Muppet Show. . Existing KERMIT programs and documentation may be included with hardware or other software as part of a standard package, provided the price of the hardware or software product is not raised significantly beyond costs of reproduction of the KERMIT component. . KERMIT protocol may be included in a multi-protocol communication package as one of the communication options, or as a communication feature of some other kind of software package, in order to enhance the attractiveness of the package. KERMIT protocol file transfer and management should not be the primary purpose of the package. The price of the package should not be raised significantly because KERMIT was included, and the vendor's literature should make a statement to this effect. . Credit for development of the KERMIT protocol should be given to the Columbia University Center for Computing Activities, and customers should be advised that KERMIT is available for many systems for only a nominal fee from Columbia and from various user group organizations, such as DECUS and SHARE. Columbia University holds the copyright on the KERMIT protocol, and may grant permission to any person or institution to develop a KERMIT program for any particular system. A commercial institution that intends to distribute KERMIT under the conditions listed above should be aware that other implementations of KERMIT for the same system may appear in the standard KERMIT distribution at any time. Columbia University encourages all developers of KERMIT software and documentation to contribute their work back to Columbia for further distribution. Finally, Columbia University does not warrant in any way the KERMIT software nor the accuracy of any related documentation, and neither the authors of any KERMIT programs or documentation nor Columbia University acknowledge any liability resulting from program or documentation errors. These are general guidelines, not a legal document to be searched for loopholes. To date, KERMIT has been freely shared by all who have taken the time to do work on it, and no formal legalities have proven necessary. The guidelines are designed to allow commercial enterprises to participate in the promulgation of KERMIT without seriously violating the KERMIT user community's trust that KERMIT will continue to spread and improve at no significant cost to themeselves. The guidelines are subject to change at any time, should more formal detail prove necessary. Commercial organizations wishing to provide KERMIT to their customers should write a letter stating their plans and their agreement to comply with the guidelines listed above. The letter should be addressed to: KERMIT Distribution Columbia University Center for Computing Activities 612 West 115th Street New York, NY 10025