Re: License for Modbus and Modbus TCP

C

Thread Starter

Curt Wuollet

Hi Rich Thank you for your reply. While that covers my use of the docs and protocol, I cannot sign for the project as there is no legal entity that gives me authority to do so. Our project is simply a group of volunteers. We have no means to execute contracts or agreements. Our efforts are publicly owned and freely available with the authors publishing them under the Gnu Public License at will. By consensus, we must be able to distribute all parts of the project freely and without encumberence for the user except for the protection afforded by the GPL to prevent donations of IP from being used in a manner not intended by the donor. We are interested in standardizing on some core protocols and hoping that we can avoid creating yet another block in the Tower of Babel that characterizes the fieldbus situation today. As we are interested in the native capabilities of Linux, an Ethernet solution makes the most sense. There will be no small exposure for whatever we choose as the LPLC is watched by a great many people of influence in the rather small automation audience. We have many interested parties who have suggested Modbus/TCP and the Modbus serial protocols as the most aligned with our needs, myself included. At the same time, we can not control or restrict what people do with it as that is not consistant with our purpose or scope of operation. This is probably inconsistant with your current licensing which, as I've mentioned is problematic for our group as it is. I fully realize that what we need to standardize on Modbus could well represent another step beyond your leading position on the concept of openness. I and many others feel that there is enough synergy and mutual benefit in your taking this additional step that I should ask. It _is_ unprecedented in the automation field to use the word open within the dictionary definition and as a binary juxtaposed with closed. The industry usage is as a continuum that means, "as open as we need for marketing purposes". We want to provide the first and only truly open protocol in Industrial Automation. Since your organization has pioneered the open concept and could benefit from our credibility, we would like to partner with you to do this with a well known and popular protocol. I would ask that you forward this proposal to whoever is in a position to make that decision. It does represent an opportunity to differentiate your products in a manner that would only generate great interest and goodwill in a market jaded by proprietary excess. I hope that we can find a way and the courage to take a path not often travelled. Thank you Curt Wuollet, The LinuxPLC Project.

[email protected] wrote:
> > Dear Mr Woullet :
> > Thank you for your request for permission to use our technology as listed on the > modbus.org web site. When you downloaded this software, you agreed to a license > that covers the terms and conditions of this software. Schneider Electric's > Automation Business will give you permission to use this code according to the > terms and conditions of that license. We have enclosed a copy of the license > with this letter so that you have a printed copy of the license. > > If you have any other questions, please feel free to direct them to me.
> > Sincerely,
> > Richard A. Baker, Jr. > Director of Automation Intellectual Property > Schneider Automation, Inc > One High Street > North Andover, MA 01845 > 978-975-9789 FAX -9786 > > (See attached file: scan1.dcx)
> > Subject: Schneider Electric : Contact for individual shareholders > From: [email protected] > Sender: [email protected] > X-Mozilla-Status2: 00000000
> > Question RE: Open Modbus > > I represent linuxplc.org a project to provide OSS solutions to the > automation > industry. We are an all volunteer group that operates in the public > interest. We > are seeking explicit permission to use Modbus and Modbus/TCP code written > from > the published documents with our project. > We might assume from the Open Modbus tag and the publishing of parts of the > protocol that we are permitted to use it but, we would like assurances that > we > won't run into legal trouble at a future time. We are hoping for your > thoughtful > and benevolent consideration.
> > Regards
> > Curt Wuollet, Project Leader > The LinuxPLC project www.linuxplc.org
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Name: scan1.dcx > scan1.dcx Type: unspecified type (application/octet-stream) > Encoding: base64 _______________________________________________ LinuxPLC mailing list [email protected] http://linuxplc.org/mailman/listinfo/linuxplc
 
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