question about Renesas USB3 host controller firmware license

question about Renesas USB3 host controller firmware license

[Marek Behún]

Hello,

I have a question related to whether it is possible to add a specific
firmware binary to linux-firmware, due to licensing.

the Renesas upd720202 USB 3 host controller requires a firmware binary
that can be downloaded from Renesas website [1].

This latest version of the firmware (2.0.2.6) is from 2013 and is
available on several places online, including Github.

But the license for this firmware [2], displayed when downloading from
Renesas' website, is different from the other Renesas firmware licesne
that already is in the linux-firmware repository [3].

The license [2] says in paragraph 2.1. that:
  grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, recovable
  license ... to distribute binary versions ... only as incorporated
  into Customer Products or Renesas Products

According to the above it should not be possible to add into
linux-firmware, but then we have paragraphs 6.1 and 6.2:

  6.1. ... the Licensed Software shall not be disclosed by you to any
       third party ...

  6.2. Your confidentiality obligations under Section 6.1, above, do not
       extend to information which you can demonstrate: (i) is or
       becomes generally available in the public domain without fault of
       you, ...; (ii) is rightfully obtained by you from a third party
       without restriction as to use and disclosure and without breach
       of any confidentiality ...

If I understand correctly, according to 6.2. (ii). people who for
example bought a product containing the firmware, but weren't asked to
agree to this license, may have already started redistributing it. The
firmware is generally available on the internet for some time now (for
example on Github).

Can someone who understands legal mojo determine whether it is possible
to add this firmware to linux-firmware?

The drivers/usb/host/xhci-pci-renesas.c code is already written to use
this firmware under the name renesas_usb_fw.mem. The code is there for 4
years already.

Marek

[1] https://www.renesas.com/us/en/products/interface/usb-switches-hubs/upd720202-usb-30-host-controller
[2] https://www.renesas.com/us/en/document/oth/disclaimer8?r=1021051
[3] https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENCE.r8a779x_usb3

Re: question about Renesas USB3 host controller firmware license

[Greg KH]

On Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 10:14:18AM +0200, Marek Behún wrote:
> Can someone who understands legal mojo determine whether it is possible
> to add this firmware to linux-firmware?

Please ask legal questions to lawyers, not kernel developers.  Would you
ask medical questions to kernel developers?  :)

Why not just contact the company themselves and ask if this is
acceptable or not?

thanks,

greg k-h

Re: question about Renesas USB3 host controller firmware license

[Josh Boyer]

On Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 5:25 AM Greg KH <gregkh@linuxfoundation.org> wrote:
>
> On Fri, Aug 23, 2024 at 10:14:18AM +0200, Marek Behún wrote:
> > Can someone who understands legal mojo determine whether it is possible
> > to add this firmware to linux-firmware?
>
> Please ask legal questions to lawyers, not kernel developers.  Would you
> ask medical questions to kernel developers?  :)
>
> Why not just contact the company themselves and ask if this is
> acceptable or not?

Agree with Greg here.  It's best to ask Renesas and have someone
submit it to the linux-firmware repo with their Signed-off-by.

josh