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The Apache 1.0 license includes an advertising clause:

Apache:

All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this *
software must display the following acknowledgment: * "This product includes software developed by the Apache Group * for use in the Apache HTTP server project (http://www.apache.org/)."

I find the phrase "mentioning features or use of this software" unclear if I distribute Apache 1.0 licensed code with other code. Does "this software" mean the Apache licensed component or the whole software package. For example, if I am only using Apache licensed code for encryption, does the advertising clause only appear if an advertisement mentions encryption or does it apply even if the advertisement doesn't mention any functionality provided by the Apache licensed code?

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1 Answer

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"this software" can only mean the Apache licensed component. How can a license cover some other non-licensed software?

if I am only using Apache licensed code for encryption, ... if the advertisement doesn't mention any functionality provided by the Apache licensed code?

"All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgment"

The use clause may still apply. You're using Apache software.

Why would you conceal the use of Apache? It's one of the must trusted names in software.

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I guess I wasn't clear enough. Suppose I have some Apache Licensed code and I link it to code I wrote myself. With the GPL, copy-left would attach to the code that I wrote if I wanted to distribute it. With the Lesser GPL, it would not. With Apache, will the advertising clause force me to mention Apache in any advertisement of the program that uses an Apache component? – Casebash Jul 27 '11 at 13:34
"Why would you conceal the use of Apache?" - because the advertising clause is hard to keep. What if we create a Google Ad Words ad for our product? Where will we find the space to add the extra sentence? We would only have to forget to include the message in one advertisement and then we would be technically in breach of the license. – Casebash Jul 27 '11 at 13:41
@Casebash: "With the GPL"? "Lesser GPL"? I thought this was about Apache. "the advertising clause force me to mention Apache in any advertisement of the program that uses an Apache component" That sure sounds like what the clause says. – S.Lott Jul 27 '11 at 13:44
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@Casebash: "Where will we find the space to add the extra sentence"? If you want to, you can consider a Google AdWords Link as your "advertising materials". Or, you can consider the Google AdWords link as just a link and have a separate web page which you claim constitutes your "advertising materials". Personally, I'd suggest that AdWords isn't the entire body of your "advertising materials". But your comment makes it sound like you want AdWords to be all of "advertising materials" so that you cannot possibly comply with the license. Your approach sounds like you're making up a limitation. – S.Lott Jul 27 '11 at 13:52
"Mentioning use" is a strange phrase. Clearly, using a program uses its components, but does "mentioning use" of a program necessarily count as "mentioning use" of its components? – Casebash Jul 27 '11 at 13:54
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