3

I'm creating a template for a company and fetching all vendor libs and selfmade code together to one minified style.css and script.js.

My question to you is: Is this following license header legal?

/*!
 * FooBar Company Template (https://foobar-company.xyz)
 * Copyright 2016 FooBoar Company
 * Unauthorized copying of this template, via any medium is strictly prohibited.
 *
 * Vendor resources
 *
 *  Font Awesome 4.6.3 by @davegandy - http://fontawesome.io - @fontawesome
 *  License - http://fontawesome.io/license (Font: SIL OFL 1.1, CSS: MIT License)
 *
 *  Open Sans by Steve Matteson
 *  Licensed under Apache License 2.0
 *
 *  Bootstrap v3.3.7 (http://getbootstrap.com)
 *  Copyright 2011-2015 Twitter, Inc.
 *  Licensed under MIT (https://github.com/twbs/bootstrap/blob/master/LICENSE)
 *
 */
[here follows minified CSS stuff]

The license header for my minified JS file looks similiar.

After reading your response my final source header looks like this

/****************************************************************************
 * FooBar Company Template v1.0.0
 * Copyright 2016 | FooBar | https://foobar.xyz
 *
 * This template integrates components from the following projects
 *
 *  Font Awesome 4.7.0 by @davegandy | fontawesome.io/license (Font: SIL OFL 1.1, CSS: MIT License)
 *  Open Sans by Steve Matteson | Apache License 2.0
 *  jQuery v3.1.1 | (c) jQuery Foundation | jquery.org/license
 *  Bootstrap v3.3.7 | Copyright 2011-2016 Twitter, Inc. | MIT License
 *  Bootstrap Modalizer v1.0.0 | (c) 2016 Jonathan Nessier, Neoflow | MIT License
 *  Menu Icon v1.0 | (c) Neoflow | MIT License
 *  Hammer.JS v2.0.8 | Copyright (c) 2016 Jorik Tangelder | MIT License
 *
 ****************************************************************************/
3
  • 1
    Well it makes it look like your proprietary license is applying to the whole thing, which is definitely less than ideal. Commented Nov 2, 2016 at 12:16
  • Should I remove the 3rd line and it is ok?
    – jnessier
    Commented Nov 3, 2016 at 6:08
  • 3
    My feeling is that the third line is fine. I suppose @curiousdannii's comment has more to do with the first two lines. Rather than using the vague term Vendor resources I would specify This template integrates code from the following projects:
    – Zimm i48
    Commented Nov 3, 2016 at 12:36

1 Answer 1

4

Is this following license header legal?

I cannot say if this is legal, but it sure does not look complete or correct.

Some licenses may have specific requirements that I would not properly meet unless I included the full text of the license, for instance for the MIT:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

Some licenses may NOT be sub-licensable (as is the MIT) for instance the SIL OFL 1.1 and this may conflict with a proprietary notice that would essentially re/sub-license the code under another license.

5) The Font Software, modified or unmodified, in part or in whole, must be distributed entirely under this license, and must not be distributed under any other license. The requirement for fonts to remain under this license does not apply to any document created using the Font Software.

Additional answer elements:

After reading your response my final source header looks like this

/****************************************************************************
 * FooBar Company Template v1.0.0
 * Copyright 2016 | FooBar | https://foobar.xyz
 *
 * This template integrates components from the following projects
 *
 *  Font Awesome 4.7.0 by @davegandy | fontawesome.io/license (Font: SIL OFL 1.1, CSS: MIT License)
 *  Open Sans by Steve Matteson | Apache License 2.0
 *  jQuery v3.1.1 | (c) jQuery Foundation | jquery.org/license
 *  Bootstrap v3.3.7 | Copyright 2011-2016 Twitter, Inc. | MIT License
 *  Bootstrap Modalizer v1.0.0 | (c) 2016 Jonathan Nessier, Neoflow | MIT License
 *  Menu Icon v1.0 | (c) Jonathan Nessier, Neoflow | MIT License
 *  Hammer.JS v2.0.8 | Copyright (c) 2016 Jorik Tangelder | MIT License
 *
 ****************************************************************************/

This looks fine to me with some caveats: the licenses texts would need to be included somehow if not in the code itself, at least side-by-side with your code and accessible from that code , e.g. possibly linked. The Apache-licensed packages may also have specific NOTICEs that may need to be reproduced too.

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.