David Lanzendörfer schreef op di 17-07-2018 om 03:00 [+0800]:
Ok let’s start step by step:
1. If I understood right, what you mean by “software” is/are A) whole
software stack (i.e drivers, compilers and etc.) and B) front-end (i.e. the
RTL, synthesizing scripts and etc.). So these things are all under the
license. As a result is it possible to modify these things and relicense
them?
RTL isn't covered under the license.
Can't be, because it's RTL, which is a technology specific implementation
which can not be protected under a copyright anymore.
I think this statement is not right. RTL code like VHDL and Verilog is technology independent and do fall under copyright law. AFAIK, it's the GDSII, masks and chips fall under another regime.
I'm no expert but I do think this means that if you buy a chip, you may reverse engineer the chip and then make your own version without needing to obey the license of the RTL of the original chip. If you use the RTL of the original chip you need to obey it's license.
greets,
Staf.