Java advanced imaging license

Question

I want to use the Java Advanced Imaging library jars in a close-source commercial application. In Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_Advanced_Imaging) it says the license is "Java Research License" and so the library cannot be used in commercial applications.

But in the txt files that go with the jars (see here: http://download.java.net/media/jai/builds/release/1_1_3/) "Java Research License" is not mentioned. Nor any other known to me license.

My question is: What is the JAI's license ? Can the JAI library be used in a commercial close-sourced application?

Answer 1

What is the JAI's license ?

The JAI license is in the LICENSE-jai.txt file.

Can the JAI library be used in a commercial close-sourced application?

The license says:

"1. LICENSE TO USE. Sun grants you a non-exclusive and non-transferable license for the internal use only of the accompanying software and documentation and any error corrections provided by Sun (collectively "Software"), by the number of users and the class of computer hardware for which the corresponding fee has been paid."

Assuming that your "commercial" application is going to be used for something other than "internal use only" ... as intended by the license, then the answer is No.

Disclaimer: IANAL. If you need professional legal advice, ask a lawyer. If you intend to ignore the clear intent of the JAI license, you need professional legal advice. Alternatively contact Oracle to discuss alternative licensing arrangements.

UPDATE

The LICENSE.TXT in the source code repository for the "jai-core" sub-project says this:

This software is licensed by Sun:

i) for research use under terms of the Java Research License (JRL) as
specified in the LICENSE-JRL.txt file and on the web at
"http://jai.dev.java.net/jrl.html"; or

ii) for commercial use under the terms of the Java Distribution License
(JDL) as specified in the LICENSE-JDL.txt file and on the web at
"http://jai.dev.java.net/jdl-jai.pdf".

The links are incorrect, but you can find the linked documents in the source repo; e.g.

https://java.net/projects/jai/sources/svn/content/trunk/www/jdl-jai.pdf?rev=1433

To view these files, you will need to create a "java.net" account.

I'll leave you (and your lawyer!) to read them, and figure out what it all means. You should NEVER rely on the "expertise" of random people on the internet to interpret legal things for you.