[R] ACM Software Copyright and License Agreement

[Hans W Borchers]

ACM Software Copyright and License Agreement

I have often seen the use of routines from the ACM Collected Algorithms, i.e.
<netlib.org/toms/> (CALGO, or Trans. On Math. Software, TOMS), in Open Source
programs, maybe also in some R packages --- and sometimes these programs are
distributed under the GPL license, sometimes under proprietary licenses, e.g.
in Scilab.

The use of these CALGO programs is subject to the ACM Software Copyright and
License Agreement <www.acm.org/publications/policies/softwarecrnotice> which
includes the following paragraph:

    **Commercial Use**
    Any User wishing to make a commercial use of the Software must contact
    ACM at permissions at acm.org to arrange an appropriate license. Commercial
    use includes
    (1) integrating or incorporating all or part of the source code into a
    product for sale or license by, or on behalf of, User to third parties, or
    (2) distribution of the binary or source code to third parties for use
    with a commercial product sold or licensed by, or on behalf of, User.

I assume that this license extension is not compatible with GPL, but I may be
wrong here. So my question is: Can software from the ACM Collected Algorithms
be distributed under a GPL-compatible licence, and how to formulate and where
to put such a license extension.

Thanks
Hans Werner