WG: [gnu.org #342187] licensing and copyright

["Seidel, Uwe" <uwe dot seidel at siemens dot com>]

Dear Sir or Madam,

Some weeks ago I send an E-Mail to you regarding the fulfillment of the GPL.
Yoni Rabkin, a colleague of you send me the below mentioned Mail that we have to pay $150 for a paid consultation.

Can you please tell me the correct procedure to get information about the following described use of the gcc gnu compiler

Thank you

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We'd like you to confirm our view on the following subject with regard to the fulfillment of the GPL applying to the "gcc gnu compiler" (GCC) which is copyrighted by Free Software Foundation: 
 
The situation is as follows:
We intend to use the GCC and deliver it unchanged as binary together with a software product of ours. Our product allows the end user to create and modify source code within a proprietary editor and consequently generate binaries for a specific target, where the GCC fulfills the task of the compiler.

The GCC is related to our software product as follows:
*	The functionality of our software product is to generate and modify source code with graphical and textual programming means. The resulting object code is used to program industrial control systems. 
*	The Object code required for the industrial control system is generated by the GCC which is delivered together with our software product. When the user presses the "Compile button" in our software product, the GCC is called by our software product and runs in the background. The end user does not see that the GCC is running but only sees the result of the compilation.
The end user of our software product might be tempted to consider the compiling being a function of our software product.  
 
*	Technical point of view
The GCC technically resides "side by side" to our software product, i.e. our software product and the GCC are separate executable ".EXE" files. No source code of the GCC is embedded into the code of our software product. Therefore our software product and the GCC are not statically linked. 

GCC is invoked via command line call when a button is pressed in our software product, similar to other graphical IDEs like eclipse or kdevelop. 
We feel such a coupling can be considered as "arms length communication" as described in the GPL FAQs.  
 
Question:
Do you agree that this kind of coupling does not impose the GPL copyleft effect on our software product?
Of course, we will fulfill all other GPL requirements, e.g. the source code of the GCC will be delivered together with our software product. 
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Mit freundlichem Gruß / Best regards

Uwe Seidel

Siemens AG
Automation and Drives, A&D AS RD ST HIC1
Tel.    : +49 (911) 978-2463
mailto:uwe.seidel@siemens.com
http://www.siemens.com/automation

Siemens Aktiengesellschaft: Chairman of the Supervisory Board: Gerhard Cromme;
Managing Board: Peter Loescher, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer;
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Erich R. Reinhardt, Hermann Requardt, Uriel J. Sharef, Peter Y. Solmssen, Klaus Wucherer;
Registered offices: Berlin and Munich;
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WEEE-Reg.-No. DE 23691322




-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Yoni Rabkin via RT [mailto:licensing@fsf.org] 
Gesendet: Montag, 3. September 2007 06:22
An: Seidel, Uwe
Betreff: [gnu.org #342187] licensing and copyright


Hello,

Please accept our apologies for the delay in getting back to you. We
rely on volunteer effort and often have difficulties keeping up with
the demand for our expertise.

The FSF has offered Free Software licensing support for many years,
and has a recognized engineering and legal expertise in this area. As
demand and expectation of our service has grown, we have required
additional funds to support our work. To this end we now offer our
services by paid consultation to non-free software developers.

We will require 30 minutes of consultation time, at a cost of $150. If
you wish to proceed, please make a payment by credit card at
<https://agia.fsf.org/licensing/payment> and e-mail us to let us know
that you have done so. We will then send you an e-mail answering your
questions, and allow you appropriate follow up. If you prefer to
discuss this by telephone, just let us know what times are good for
you.

If you do not want to pay for this service, I suggest you carefully
review the resources we provide about licensing at
<http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html> and refer to your legal
counsel.

Thank you

--
I am not a lawyer, the above is not legal advice

   Regards, Yoni Rabkin