OS version: Windows 10
GPU: NVIDIA Quadro P4000
Driver: 466.11
CUDA: 11.3
Optix: 7.3
I just want to double check licensing requirements for using Optix 7.3 in commercial software. Is everything mentioned in this post still correct?
We use the Optix denoiser in our ray tracing software which is released in binary form. All our code contains any Optix sample code has the original comments copied. We will provide notification at this link: https://developer.nvidia.com/sw-notification
Is there any other requirements we need to fulfill in order to use Optix 7.3 denoiser in our software?
Yes the OptiX 7.3 license continues to allow commercial usage of the OptiX API. The link you pasted is rather old, the current license for your SDK can be found inside the SDK download in the file OptiX SDK 7.3.0/doc/OptiX_EndUserLicense.pdf. I don’t believe we have a license distinction between internal use and commercial use anymore. I think we no longer offer any separate “commercial license”. Let me check on that and follow up here with a confirmation.
I don’t entirely understand this part of your comment:
All our code contains any Optix sample code has the original comments copied.
If you’re not releasing the source code, then I think you don’t need to worry about OptiX sample code comments, it should be fine to modify our SDK samples and release the resulting compiled binary without notice. The main licensing limitation is that you do not redistribute the OptiX SDK to third parties.
If you are releasing only a binary, and you’re not distributing OptiX to other people, then as long as you meet the other terms in the license agreement (e.g., you’re not reverse engineering OptiX, you’re not selling OptiX, etc.) then I don’t believe you have any further obligations.
If you are releasing some source code, then some additional requirements may apply; make sure to read the sections “Limitations”, “Third Party License Obligations” as well as the file OptiX SDK 7.3.0/doc/OptiX_ThirdParty_Licenses.txt.
Be aware that no part of this message is to be interpreted as either granting or limiting any rights whatsoever. Please read through and refer directly to the End User License Agreement file distributed with your SDK download.
Thank you so much for the clarification! We will read the Optix EULA carefully.
Please confirm if the “commercial license” notification is indeed no longer needed.
Yes, we release in binary form, not in source code form. I see so we don’t need to copy the copyright disclaimer from Optix sample code to our own. Are we still required to copy the Optix copyright disclaimer to our software’s EULA document?
I’ve checked and I am confirming that we no longer offer a separate “commercial license”. The sole license you need for commercial binary releases is the one included with the SDK.
Are we still required to copy the Optix copyright disclaimer to our software’s EULA document?
Just to make absolutely sure I understand this question and can gather and provide accurate advice, where are you reading that requirement? It will help to be able to refer directly to the license clause you’re interpreting, and then I’m happy to forward your question about it to our legal team.
If your company has a lawyer that reviews all your licensing requirements and writes your EULA before release, then my best official advice would be to have them review the NVIDIA SDK EULA to make sure everything is in order. I would also recommend following up with your intent to register with the “Software Licensing Notification” form (https://developer.nvidia.com/sw-notification), as this does appear to be a licensing requirement in the newer version of the NVIDIA SDK license.
Researching your question made me aware that the EULA embedded with OptiX is an older version than the EULA we have on the OptiX download page (https://developer.nvidia.com/designworks/sdk-samples-tools-software-license-agreement). This EULA is just the standard license agreement for all NVIDIA SDKs, it’s not OptiX specific, but the newer version does request the online notification for commercial releases. (I’d guess maybe this is what replaces the old separate “commercial license”…) Anyway, we are already working to consolidate these two versions into a single version of the EULA that comes with OptiX – so thank you for asking about it!
Thank you so much for the help! We will provide notification to NVIDIA on that website.
As for the copyright disclaimer. I think I actually read it from the Optix Sample code (copied below). We used some of the sample code with modifications to suit our needs. Our software is released in binary form, so I got the impression that we need to copy this disclaimer to our EULA.
I will pass these information to our legal team for review. For Optix 7.3 in specific, should I pass the 2 current EULAs (one for designworks and one for Optix) to them, or should I wait for the new version consolidating the two that you mentioned?
/*
Copyright (c) 2013-2020, NVIDIA CORPORATION. All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of NVIDIA CORPORATION nor the names of its
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
from this software without specific prior written permission.
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS ``AS IS’’ AND ANY
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY
OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
*/
I see, thanks for clarifying! This does appear to require the notice to be distributed with binaries, when the code is used and modified. I think this could probably look really similar to the third party licenses file we distribute with OptiX in “OptiX SDK 7.3.0\doc\OptiX_ThirdParty_Licenses.txt”
Our legal team has responded and clarified that you can look at the most recent of the two versions of the DesignWorks SDK license, and ignore the embedded license file in the SDK because it’s older. So I gave bad advice earlier, before I realized there were two different versions, sorry about that. The only license you need to review is the online version from the OptiX download page, available at this link: https://developer.nvidia.com/designworks/sdk-samples-tools-software-license-agreement
Please note my comment is not legal advice nor should you take it as either granting or denying permission. It’s best to rely on the license document and seek your own professional counsel. We certainly want to encourage use of OptiX, and we may make changes to better support automated installation of OptiX as a project dependency at some point in the future, so check back.