Open Source Licensing
Who May I Contact at ICON Regarding Open Source Licenses?
Mr. Simon Weston at ICON is designated to be our Open Source Ombudsman, the liaison with the public regarding ICON’s compliance with Open Source licenses. You may contact Simon Weston via our contact form.
Is iconCFD Open Source?
iconCFD includes more than one program. The main program of the product is Open Source, and derived from OpenFOAM* and other Open Source software, but with improvements from ICON. iconCFD Process is a separate program and is proprietary to ICON. There are also other programs and tools offered by ICON, both Open Source and proprietary. The iconCFD product also includes documentation and services which are proprietary to ICON.
What License Is Used For The Open Source Portion of iconCFD?
Mainly a combination of the GNU General Public License version 2 and/or 3 and other Open Source licenses that are compatible with GPL. Various programs may be under different licenses.
If iconCFD is Open Source, Can I Download It For Free?
No. The GPL licenses allow anyone to redistribute binary copies of the Open Source portions of iconCFD, but don’t compel anyone to do so. At present we choose to provide copies only to our customers.
If for some reason we’ve given you a binary copy of a program under a GPL license without the corresponding source code, we are required to give you source code of that program upon request. If that is the case please contact our Open Source Ombudsman who is listed above.
If you have a copy of iconCFD and wish to redistribute it, you must carefully separate the Open Source and proprietary pieces. Redistribution of the proprietary components of iconCFD would be copyright infringement, and can be prosecuted.
Is ICON In Compliance With The GPL And Other Open Source Licenses?
We’re a law-abiding company. Part of being one, of course, is complying with the lawful requirements of Open Source licenses. We have hired experts and attorneys to help us fulfill this requirement.
If you believe that we are not in compliance with an Open Source license please contact our Open Source Ombudsman who is listed above.
Is There Confusion About Open Source Licenses?
Lots of it. We find that Open Source developers are often confused regarding the actual requirements of their licenses and the law. Business people sometimes have unreasonable fear regarding Open Source licenses. And regretfully, some companies have modified or redistributed Open Source without understanding the license requirements and their compliance responsibility.
ICON endeavors to provide license compliance in its products, simplifying the use of Open Source for its customers. We offer bespoke modifications to Open Source software, assuming the legal load and the intellectual property risk so that your company doesn’t have to.
* OpenFOAM® and OpenCFD® are registered trade marks of ESI Group.
This offering is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited, the producer of the OpenFOAM software.