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FSF on OnlyOffice/EuroOffice: You cannot use the GNU (A)GPL to take software freedom away (www.fsf.org)
submitted 3 months ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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cross-posted from: https://piefed.social/c/technology/p/1986332/fsf-on-onlyoffice-eurooffice-you-cannot-use-the-gnu-a-gpl-to-take-software-freedom-away

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[–] 51 points 3 months ago (2 children)

As someone out of the loop on this, it would be helpful if they didn't wait until 4 paragraphs into the article to state what OnlyOffice actually did. Likewise the article they link to by OpenOffice doesn't state what EuroOffice did until 7 paragraphs in.

Apparently it's a dispute about EuroOffice changing the logo when they forked OnlyOffice?

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  • [–] 52 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    Apparently it’s a dispute about EuroOffice changing the logo when they forked OnlyOffice?

    Yes, pretty much.

    OnlyOffice added a restriction that says you can't change the logo and the FSF explaining why 1. They're not allowed to add additional restrictions and 2. The AGPL's license says if they do, you can ignore them (basically).

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  • [–] 52 points 3 months ago (2 children)

    And to be more clear: OnlyOffice also did not grant permission to use said logo. They used this to try to deny people the ability to create forks, which goes against the core principles of the AGPL and open source.

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  • [–] 13 points 3 months ago (1 child)

    From the blog-

    Pursuant to Section 7 of AGPLv3, the copyright holder is expressly entitled to impose additional conditions. In the case of ONLYOFFICE, such conditions include, in particular:

    • the obligation to retain the original product logo (Section 7(b));
    • the denial of any rights to use the copyright holder’s trademarks (Section 7(e)).

    Such additions to the License were implemented on May 25, 2021, and can be found at line 655 of the License.

    ie. You're not allowed to rebrand the software as something else and additionally, not allowed to use their trademarks without their consent - they're trying to turn something agpl into 'shared source' proprietary software.

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