Dear Mr. Azzurro,
I am one of the developers of Stockfish and I was very surprised to find what is a _free_ and _open source_ program to be advertised and sold as a commercial one as an integral part of the Master Chess package.
Just a few facts because in case you don't have a clear idea what GPL license is:
- Stockfish name is copyrighted and the fact that is GPL does not allow you to use the name to advertise third party commercial products.
- Stockfish is bundled with Master Chess (and Stockfish sources should be provided together with binaries in the DVD), but you should mention that is still possible to getting it for free as usual and that we are not involved in any form (we were even unaware of your commercial operation) with your product.
- We, the Stockfish team, are not hired by you, nor we get any money from you in any form and there isn't absolutely any kind of agreement verbal or written between you and us. So you may not use Stockfish name and our names in the advertising material without our written permission.
I am not a lawyer but I think this could be lawyer material and if you don't stop immediately with unfair advertising information there is the possibility you'll end up paying much more then what you hope to earn.
So, please, clearly state in _all_ your advertising material (included "reviews" by your possibly marketing guys) that Stockfish is and remains a GPL and free software and that we (the Stockfish team) are not involved in any form with your company.
Thanks and best regards
Marco Costalba
I also wrote an e-mail to Paul Azzurro, after we received a reply (the reply was friendly, but of course I can't post it here without permission). This is what I wrote:
Hi Paul,
I'm one of the other Stockfish developers. I'd like to emphasize that
the opinions in this e-mail are my own, and that the two others may or
may not agree with me (although I think they do, at least in most
cases).
Personally I have no problems with you bundling Stockfish with your
commercial product, but I dislike the way it is marketed. Like Marco,
I would prefer that it is clearer that we in the Stockfish team have
nothing to do with this product. The way MasterChess is presented in
ads on the Internet, there is also too much focus on the Stockfish
engine and too little focus on your own original work. Moreover, most
of the claims about Stockfish are exaggerated or untrue.
To see what I mean, have a look at this web page, and in particular at
the picture of the DVD box:
http://www.chess4less.com/cheap/1/003939.html
On the DVD box, the only thing I read which is not about Stockfish is
the "1.8 million game database". The rest is all about Stockfish, and
all of it is either demonstrably untrue or very debatable.
While I understand that some degree of exaggeration may be necessary
in order to market the product effectively, I would prefer that you
focus on your own work (which, after all, is what the customer pays
for) rather than on our work. For a casual observer, it is natural to
assume that we in the Stockfish team are involved in the creation of
the product. I don't want people to believe that I earn money from
Stockfish, nor that I support any of the claims printed on the DVD
box.
I am sure MasterChess is an awesome product (unfortunately, being a
Macintosh user, I can't try it out myself) with lots of nifty
features. Why not write about these features on the box, and just
include a line saying "includes the strong open source chess engine
Stockfish" or something similar at the bottom?
Best wishes,
Tord
It does give you that sleazy feeling on the inside
To be fair, Paul Azzurro has been very friendly and cooperative in his replies to our mails. He understands and respects our objections, and appears to be willing to change the product description to make the (lack of) relationship between MasterChess and Stockfish more clear, and to change the DVD packaging to focus on his work rather than ours. I'm sure we'll find an agreement that makes everybody happy.
It does give you that sleazy feeling on the inside
To be fair, Paul Azzurro has been very friendly and cooperative in his replies to our mails. He understands and respects our objections, and appears to be willing to change the product description to make the (lack of) relationship between MasterChess and Stockfish more clear, and to change the DVD packaging to focus on his work rather than ours. I'm sure we'll find an agreement that makes everybody happy.
You are indeed a man of high character
“He knew all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, pathos, puns, parody, litotes and... satire. He was vicious”
Tord Romstad wrote:Of course, neither Marco, Joona nor I have anything to do with this product, and we don't earn any money from it (nor do we want to).
I do not understand the last part (nor do we want to)
I could understand if you replace the word want by expect.
I understand that you do not want to care about customers but earning money does not mean that you have to do it.
The fact that stockfish is a hobby for you is not relevant and most people are going to be happy to get money for doing their hobbies.
I also see nothing unfair if people who sell stockfish inside their interface
need to pay you some part of their profit.
If stockfish is something productive for their product then you do something productive for the people who sell the product and it is only fair if the people who sell the product give you money to encourage other people to do things that are productive for their product.
Tord, I am not a man unduly interested in money, but....for a reasonable fee I can get for you at least 15 bucks of the package.....
I have some guys at my service with very convincing manners. They are from Serbia and not known for his good character.
Should I send one of them to talk with that person?
It does give you that sleazy feeling on the inside
To be fair, Paul Azzurro has been very friendly and cooperative in his replies to our mails. He understands and respects our objections, and appears to be willing to change the product description to make the (lack of) relationship between MasterChess and Stockfish more clear, and to change the DVD packaging to focus on his work rather than ours. I'm sure we'll find an agreement that makes everybody happy.
I Think man has taken a cheap shot at you guys by stealing your
product and trying to sell it with fault claims. I would not be so
nice to him.
Well..... On another note it (the product that is being sold) is indeed a recognition of the engine's and the programmer's skill. I hope they give credit to the creator of the program at their site.
I thought you said Chessmaster 7000?
No I said Masterchess 7000.
But I just downloaded Stockfish 1.8 for free.
Yes ok but you can also buy it for $39.
But Chessmaster 7000 is free download.
No I said Stockfish is free.
No Stockfish is $39 inside Chessmaster 7000 for free.
No I said stockfish is free but if you want to buy it you can spend $39 and it is inside Masterchess not Chessmaster.
