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The German chess software program firm ChessBase and the staff behind the open-source chess engine Stockfish have reached a settlement and ended their authorized dispute over the latter’s declare relating to a repeated license violation by Chessbase with their merchandise Fats Fritz 2 and Houdini 6.
The settlement between Chessbase and Stockfish was introduced on the Stockfish web site on Saturday and confirmed as correct to Chess.com by Matthias Wullenweber, proprietor and chief programmer of Chessbase.
The 2 events concerned within the litigation, which appeared earlier than the District Courtroom in Munich, Germany, have agreed that Chessbase, longterm, can proceed distributing merchandise so long as the corporate ensures compliance with the GPL-3.0 license phrases and adequately informs the general public about using the Stockfish software program in its merchandise.
The phrases of the settlement embrace that Chessbase refrains from distributing and/or making publicly out there the Stockfish software program for a interval of 1 12 months. After one 12 months, Chessbase can train the license to the Stockfish software program once more, below the circumstances of the GPL-3.0. In case the phrases are breached, Chessbase should pay an acceptable quantity to the Free Software program Basis Europe e.V.
For the aim of informing the general public, Chessbase will place a clearly seen discover on all of its web sites regarding Fats Fritz 2 and/or Houdini 6, containing a textual content referring to the GPL-3.0 license phrases and the settlement. Additionally, they are going to internally introduce the function of a “Free Software program Compliance Officer” and record below the area foss.chessbase.com the merchandise that include the software program Stockfish below the GPL-3.0 or different Free and Open Supply Software program (FOSS). If the respective licenses require the availability of the supply code, Chessbase will allow a obtain of the supply code by anybody from there.
In case Chessbase will proceed distributing merchandise based mostly on Stockfish after one 12 months, their ads should confer with using Stockfish, and comparisons of taking part in power with Stockfish or different chess engines shall be truthful and provable (e.g. by reference to acceptable present rankings) and shall confer with present variations.
Additionally, neural networks supplied by Chessbase to be used with Stockfish which are included within the compilation or dynamically loaded at runtime to initialize the info buildings and logic of the software program have to be topic to GPL-3.0 or a appropriate license.
In July 2021, the staff behind Stockfish sued Chessbase for promoting merchandise based mostly on Stockfish, an open-source chess engine, with out attaching the license textual content and/or making out there the entire corresponding supply code. Because the copyright house owners, main builders of Stockfish had terminated the GPL license, and without a license, Chessbase infringed copyright by persevering with to distribute the merchandise—therefore the lawsuit.
Earlier that 12 months, the groups behind Stockfish and one other open-source chess program, Leela Chess Zero, had claimed that the engine in Fats Fritz 2 is Stockfish with minimal adjustments, that Fats Fritz 2 violated the GNU Common Public License below which Stockfish was launched, and that Chessbase’s advertising has made false claims about Fats Fritz 2’s taking part in power.
In a public listening to on July 4, 2022, in Munich, the choose confirmed that it was certainly attainable for the Stockfish staff to terminate the GPL license. As German legislation stipulates, the choose nonetheless requested the 2 events to try to work on a settlement. If they’d failed to come back to an settlement, a brand new court docket session was scheduled for March 2023.
Joost VandeVondele, the present maintainer of Stockfish, wrote that the settlement “strengthens the Stockfish undertaking in its intention to ship the world’s primary chess engine as a Free Software program and that permits ChessBase to distribute our software program sooner or later.” He defined the explanation for re-instating the license a 12 months from now as follows:
“We really feel that that is within the spirit of Free Software program and to the advantage of the group. ChessBase has now acknowledged the worth and potential of open supply software program, and Stockfish particularly, and made a transparent dedication to respecting the Free Software program rules.”
Earlier protection:
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