We posed that question to Meeker: “GPL v3 does have a cure period, unlike GPL v2,” Meeker says. However, what if a court determines that ChessBase need not disclose neural network weights for Fat Fritz 2 SE and is actually currently in compliance with GPL v3? Does the fact that ChessBase used to be non-compliant give Stockfish the right to terminate its license? Thus, to enforce the consequences of the license termination, we have filed a lawsuit. However, ChessBase is ignoring the fact that they no longer have the right to distribute Stockfish, modified or unmodified, as part of their products. Here’s what Stockfish wrote in its Jblog announcing the lawsuit: Due to ChessBase’s repeated license violations, leading developers of Stockfish have terminated their GPL license with ChessBase permanently. This goes to the very core of Stockfish’s dispute with ChessBase. ChessBase could also prove an interesting test of another provision in GPL v3: the ability to terminate the license. RELATED: Analyzing the Legal Implications of GitHub Copilot Question 2: GPL v3 and License Termination The FSF says it is “legally impossible” for the GPL cover the output of GPL programs.” - Heather Meeker Even the FSF does not seem to support that position, in its FAQs about GPL. Therefore, claiming that GPL code requires resulting models to be licensed under GPL is a tenuous position. The relationship between GPL code and a model created with it is usually a relationship of software to data - not software to software. Models and weights are not the same as linked code or libraries. However, suggesting that the GPL also covers neural network weights created by or for use with GPL code goes beyond this position. This position has not been thoroughly tested as a matter of law, but it is widely accepted as industry practice. FSF (the Free Software Foundation) has long advanced the position that all code linked into a GPL program is part of the same work of authorship, and therefore the combination is a derivative work and must all be available under GPL. The challenge to interpreting GPL for ML applications is that neural network weights exist at the intersection of code and data. “The GPL does not speak specifically to the treatment of ML models created for GPL code. This raises the question: Do GPL v3’s disclosure requirements extend to neural network weights? We reached out to Heather Meeker for her analysis on the matter. As an input enters the node, it gets multiplied by a weight value and the resulting output is either observed, or passed to the next layer in the neural network. Within each node is a set of inputs, weight, and a bias value. A neural network is a series of nodes, or neurons. Per : Weight is the parameter within a neural network that transforms input data within the network's hidden layers. But whether GPL requires disclosure of neural network weights is far from clear. That’s because ChessBase has not disclosed the neural network weights. Specifically, anyone who distributes derivative works of Stockfish’s code in binary form must make available the corresponding source code under GPL v3.īut while ChessBase has now made available source code for Fat Fritz 2 SE, there’s still debate around whether the product is fully compliant with GPL v3. As such, anyone is free to use Stockfish’s code, but there are requirements that come with distribution. Stockfish is distributed under GPL v3, which is a strong copyleft open source software license. Question 1: GPL and Neural Network Weights Your email address is added to our subscription list. In this blog, Heather addresses two specific questions that could surface during the proceedings. To help contextualize and analyze the lawsuit, we reached out to Heather Meeker, one of the world’s foremost legal experts on open source software licensing and compliance. Stockfish’s litigation, which will reportedly be heard in a German court, seeks to prevent ChessBase from distributing “Stockfish, modified or unmodified, as part of their products.” However, while ChessBase no longer sells Houdini 6, it has continued to sell a version of Fat Fritz 2. There’s consensus that Fat Fitz 2 and Houdini 6 are derivative works of Stockfish’s GPL 3-licensed code - but Stockfishes alleges ChessBase did not comply with the requirements that apply to derivative works.Īs a result of these alleged numerous license violations, Stockfish decided to terminate its license with ChessBase. The dispute stems from the way ChessBase used Stockfish’s GPL v3-licensed code in two products: Fat Fritz 2 and Houdini 6. ChessBase is a company that sells a variety of chess products, including software programs, databases, training, and a magazine. In a case that could be an interesting test of the GPL v3 license, open source chess engine Stockfish recently announced a lawsuit against ChessBase.
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