Doesn't the Kinetis SDK license require the company to turn over the firmware and all the patent rights to their product to nxp Freescale?
Both the 1.3 SDK builder page and the 2.0 Standalone version download page require agreement with nxp/Freescale license which is not the same as the BSD license. Section 5 specifically states:
Upon request, you must provide Freescale the source code of any derivative of the Licensed Software. You agree to assign all, and hereby do assign all rights, title, and interest to any such modifications to the Licensed Software to Freescale and agree to provide all assistance reasonably requested by Freescale to establish, preserve or enforce such right. Further, you agree to waive all moral rights of approval, restriction, or limitation on use or subsequent modification.
Hi, Steve,
The KSDK v2 includes several components, each with their own license. However, all Freescale/NXP authored content is provided under a BSD 3-Clause license, which is a common, permissive, open source license. Here are some resources that describe it further:
https://tldrlegal.com/license/bsd-3-clause-license-%28revised%29
The BSD 3-Clause License | Open Source Initiative
All other components are offered under similar open source licenses or evaluation licenses from their authors.
For example, I've pasted the "Software Content Register" for a FRDM-K64F KSDKv2 package, which lists all the software components and their license:.
Release Name: Kinetis So KSDK_2.0.0_GA_REL1
ftware Development Kit (
SDK) Package - Kinetis S
DK
KSDK Peripheral Drivers Description: Peripheral drivers are designed for t
he most common use cases identified for the underl
ying hardware block.
Author: Freescale
version: 2.x.x
License: Open Source - BSD-3-Clause
Format: source code
Location: devices/<device_name>/drivers
CMSIS Core header files Description: Industry-standard header files distri
butes by ARM for cortex-M cores
Author: ARM
version: 4.3 (CMSIS Download 4.5)
License: Open Source - BSD-3-Clause
Format: source code
Location: CMSIS/Include
CMSIS DSP Library Description: A digital signal processing library f
or Cortex-M cores from ARM
Author: ARM
version: 1.4.5 (CMSIS download 4.5)
License: Open Source - BSD-3-Clause
Format: source code
Location: CMSIS/DSP_Lib
FreeRTOS(tm) Description: A real-time operating system(RTOS) fr
om Real Time Engineers, Ltd.
Author: Real Time Engineers, Ltd.
version: 8.2.3
License: Modified GPLv2. See rtos/freertos/License
/license.txt.
Format: source code
Location: rtos/freertos_8.2.3
uC/OS-II(R) Description: A real-time operating system(RTOS) fr
om Micrium
Author: Micrium, Inc.
version: 2.92.11
License: Proprietary. See LA_OPT_Base_License.htm,
Appendix A, Micrium.
Format: source code
URL: http://micrium.com
Location: rtos/ucosii_2.92.11
uC/OS-III(R) Description: A real-time operating system(RTOS) fr
om Micrium
Author: Micrium, Inc.
version: 3.05.01
License: Proprietary. See LA_OPT_Base_License.htm,
Appendix A, Micrium.
Format: source code
URL: http://micrium.com
Location: rtos/ucosiii_3.05.01
SD MMC Card middleware Description: A software componnet support SD card,
eMMC card.
Author: Freescale
version: 2.0.0
License: Open Source - BSC-3-Clause
Format: source code
Location: middleware/sdmmc_2.0.0
MBED TLS stack Description: Cryptographic and SSL/TLS Library
Author: ARM
version: 2.1.2
License: Apache-2-Clause
Format: source code
Location: middleware/mbedtls_2.1.2
DMA Manager Description: A software component used for manage
on-chip DMA channel resources.
Author: Freescale
version: 2.0.0
License: Open Source - BSC-3-Clause
Format: source code
Location: middleware/dma_manager_2.0.0
USB Description: Freescale USB stack. This is a versio
n of the USB stack that has been integrated with t
he Kinetis SDK.
Author: Freescale
version: 1.0.0
License: Open Source - BSD-3-Clause
Format: source code
Location: middleware/usb_1.0.0
lwIP TCP/IP Stack Description: A light-weight TCP/IP stack
Author: Swedish Institute of Computer Science
version: 1.4.1
License: Open Source - BSD-3-Clause
Format: source code
URL: http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/lwip
Location: middleware/lwip_1.4.1
wolfSSL Description: wolfSSL is cryptography and SSL/TLS l
ibrary
Author: wolfSSL Inc.
version: 3.6.8
License: 3rd party evaluation. See middleware/wolf
ssl_3.6.8/wolfSSL_cyaSSL_evaluation_license_agreem
ent.pdf
Format: source code
Location: middleware/wolfssl_3.6.8
mmCAU S/W Library Description: S/W library that works with the memor
y-mapped cryptographic acceleration unit present o
n some Kinetis SoCs
Author: Freescale
version: 2.0.0
License: Open Source - BSD-3-Clause
Format: source code
Location: middleware/mmcau_2.0.0
EMV L1 stack Description: The EMV (Europay-MasterCard-Visa) L1
stack which complies to EMV_v4.3_Book_1 specificat
ion.
Author: Freescale
version: 2.0.0
License: Open Source - BSD-3-Clause
Format: source code
Location: middleware/emv_2.0.0
FatFs Description: FatFs is a generic FAT file system mo
dule for small embedded systems.
Author: Electronic Lives Mfg. by ChaN of Ageo city
, Japan (hobbyist)
version: 0.11a
License: Open Source - FatFs License, middleware/f
atfs/doc/en/appnote.html
Format: source code
URL: http://elm-chan.org/fsw/ff/00index_e.html
Approved Open Source License: Yes
Location: middleware/fatfs_0.11a
Hi Steve,
thank you for your question.
Please, can you provide to us more details about your problem you face to?
Maybe mnorman could help with the KSDK license and the patent rights and tell more details.
Thank you,
Have a nice day.
Iva