Had a couple of questions on the GPL licensing terms. Would appreciate if anyone could help out on these:
1. Can one modify the source-code of KNIME, as well as its logo and use it for commercial purposes? i.e. can one modify the code and offer it as a commercial data-analytics platform, where customers are charged for consultancy, or developing custom analytics /ML models etc.
The source-code of the modified platform would be released to the clients, as per the GPL licensing terms.
2 If any custom extensions are developed, would the source of these custom extension also be need to be released to customers?
Any pointers on this would be very helpful. Many thanks in advance!
Since theses are legal questions, it’s best if you contact a lawyer and describe your exact use case. We cannot provide you any definite answers.
From my (limited) knowledge the important aspect of the GPL is that you provide the source code. So yes, you can likely modify it, publish the modified sources, and try to sell the modified version but the question is who would pay for this. If you only want to offer consultancy services then why do you need to modify the source code?
As for the logo and the name “KNIME”: they are trademarked therefore you are not allowed to use them.
Custom extensions don’t have to be published under the GPL. Our license has an exception for exactly this case: using the official node API does not “infect” extension’s code with the GPL.
The modification of the source-code was for a possible scenario - 'if at all, for some future use case, part of the core functionality would needed to be changed’.
Agree that if it’s only for offering consulting services, there wouldn’t be a need to modify the source code - especially since one can create custom extensions.
The question of the logo was not to use KNIME logo & name, but it was more of – can one replace the KNIME name & logo with a custom logo (e.g. say, for branding/marketing purpose)? Since KNIME is under GPL licence that allows for any part of the product to be modified, is one also allowed to modify KNIME’s logo & name? Or, one can only use KNIME with its existing logo/name?