2

I plan to use source code from Oracles Java documentation, which contains the following license information. Since I'm not used to publishing my code, but I have to this time, I have no idea of the implication this has on the software license I can publish the code under.

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2011, 2014 Oracle and/or its affiliates.
 * All rights reserved. Use is subject to license terms.
 *
 * This file is available and licensed under the following license:
 *
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
 * are met:
 *
 *  - Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
 *    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
 *  - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
 *    notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
 *    the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
 *  - Neither the name of Oracle nor the names of its
 *    contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
 *    from this software without specific prior written permission.
 *
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
 * "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
 * LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
 * A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
 * OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
 * SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
 * LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
 * DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
 * THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
 * (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
 * OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 */

My boss asked me if we can publish it under CC BY-NC-ND.

Can I use the code from Oracle and publish the project under afformentioned license?

Followup question, What do I have to look for regarding imports?

woerdi
  • 21
  • 1
  • The language is similar (but not the same) as the BSD-3 license. How are you planning to use the code of Oracle in your project? Directly copy-paste that code into your own? Use as a dependency? Any other way? – Martin_in_AUT Oct 18 '21 at 21:33
  • A direct copy-paste. Unfortunately I need to modify some of the lines inside of methods, but not enough to just override them entirely. – woerdi Oct 30 '21 at 13:58
  • Consider learning from the lines and then writing what you need instead of copy-pasting, and then there is no issue. – user253751 Nov 03 '21 at 10:11

1 Answers1

1

As mentioned in my comment above, the license terms are similar (but not the same) as the BSD-3 license. There is a nice page which explains what you can and can't do with BSD licensed code, which includes using it with another license, even proprietary/commercial licenses.

So the general answer to your question is: Yes, you can use the code in the way proposed in your question. But...

...as a personal comment, I would like to add that I think the Creative Commons licenses are not well suited to software/code. They are more tailored for works of artists, writers, photographers, musicians, and the like. I recommend you to read this and this.

Martin_in_AUT
  • 7,205
  • 10
  • 37