Can I use Mozilla Public License 1.1 (MPL) in a commercial app? [closed] - rabbitmq

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There are a couple of threads talking about license issue. Mostly focusing on GPL/LGPL/BSD. I am trying to use RabbitMQ in commercial applications, which is licensed under Mozilla Public License(MPL). Is MPL friendly to commercial use?
I found a different question on Stack Overflow, and one of the comments mentions:
MPL: people can take your code, modify it, but if they distribute the modifications, they need to make sure modifications are publicly available for 3 years.
If I don't touch the source code at all, but only use the .jar files in my code, do I need to license my code under MPL as well?

Answer 1

In a more serious tone, you should always consult to your lawyer, but it could be helpful if you read the annotated MPL 1.1 at: http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/MPL-1.1-annotated.html but it basically means that the files can be combined with proprietary files on a "larger work", still, it would be wise if you read the annotated version and consult it with a lawyer.
I'm not sure about if you have doubts about Apache license since you mention it on the question topic but not in the body of your question.

Answer 2

I'm not sure if this is what you need but this is the exact diff between MPL 1.1 and Apache 2.0 licenses.
--- C:/Users/AlbertEin/Desktop/mozilla.txt vie ene 15 10:20:46 2010
+++ C:/Users/Albertein/Desktop/apache.txt vie ene 15 10:20:53 2010
## -1,470 +1,201 ##
- MOZILLA PUBLIC LICENSE
- Version 1.1
+ Apache License
+ Version 2.0, January 2004
+ http://www.apache.org/licenses/
- ---------------
+ TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION
-1. Definitions.
+ 1. Definitions.
- 1.0.1. "Commercial Use" means distribution or otherwise making the
- Covered Code available to a third party.
+ "License" shall mean the terms and conditions for use, reproduction,
+ and distribution as defined by Sections 1 through 9 of this document.
- 1.1. "Contributor" means each entity that creates or contributes to
- the creation of Modifications.
+ "Licensor" shall mean the copyright owner or entity authorized by
+ the copyright owner that is granting the License.
- 1.2. "Contributor Version" means the combination of the Original
- Code, prior Modifications used by a Contributor, and the Modifications
- made by that particular Contributor.
+ "Legal Entity" shall mean the union of the acting entity and all
+ other entities that control, are controlled by, or are under common
+ control with that entity. For the purposes of this definition,
+ "control" means (i) the power, direct or indirect, to cause the
+ direction or management of such entity, whether by contract or
+ otherwise, or (ii) ownership of fifty percent (50%) or more of the
+ outstanding shares, or (iii) beneficial ownership of such entity.
- 1.3. "Covered Code" means the Original Code or Modifications or the
- combination of the Original Code and Modifications, in each case
- including portions thereof.
+ "You" (or "Your") shall mean an individual or Legal Entity
+ exercising permissions granted by this License.
- 1.4. "Electronic Distribution Mechanism" means a mechanism generally
- accepted in the software development community for the electronic
- transfer of data.
+ "Source" form shall mean the preferred form for making modifications,
+ including but not limited to software source code, documentation
+ source, and configuration files.
- 1.5. "Executable" means Covered Code in any form other than Source
- Code.
+ "Object" form shall mean any form resulting from mechanical
+ transformation or translation of a Source form, including but
+ not limited to compiled object code, generated documentation,
+ and conversions to other media types.
- 1.6. "Initial Developer" means the individual or entity identified
- as the Initial Developer in the Source Code notice required by Exhibit
- A.
+ "Work" shall mean the work of authorship, whether in Source or
+ Object form, made available under the License, as indicated by a
+ copyright notice that is included in or attached to the work
+ (an example is provided in the Appendix below).
- 1.7. "Larger Work" means a work which combines Covered Code or
- portions thereof with code not governed by the terms of this License.
+ "Derivative Works" shall mean any work, whether in Source or Object
+ form, that is based on (or derived from) the Work and for which the
+ editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other modifications
+ represent, as a whole, an original work of authorship. For the purposes
+ of this License, Derivative Works shall not include works that remain
+ separable from, or merely link (or bind by name) to the interfaces of,
+ the Work and Derivative Works thereof.
- 1.8. "License" means this document.
+ "Contribution" shall mean any work of authorship, including
+ the original version of the Work and any modifications or additions
+ to that Work or Derivative Works thereof, that is intentionally
+ submitted to Licensor for inclusion in the Work by the copyright owner
+ or by an individual or Legal Entity authorized to submit on behalf of
+ the copyright owner. For the purposes of this definition, "submitted"
+ means any form of electronic, verbal, or written communication sent
+ to the Licensor or its representatives, including but not limited to
+ communication on electronic mailing lists, source code control systems,
+ and issue tracking systems that are managed by, or on behalf of, the
+ Licensor for the purpose of discussing and improving the Work, but
+ excluding communication that is conspicuously marked or otherwise
+ designated in writing by the copyright owner as "Not a Contribution."
- 1.8.1. "Licensable" means having the right to grant, to the maximum
- extent possible, whether at the time of the initial grant or
- subsequently acquired, any and all of the rights conveyed herein.
+ "Contributor" shall mean Licensor and any individual or Legal Entity
+ on behalf of whom a Contribution has been received by Licensor and
+ subsequently incorporated within the Work.
- 1.9. "Modifications" means any addition to or deletion from the
- substance or structure of either the Original Code or any previous
- Modifications. When Covered Code is released as a series of files, a
- Modification is:
- A. Any addition to or deletion from the contents of a file
- containing Original Code or previous Modifications.
+ 2. Grant of Copyright License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
+ this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
+ worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
+ copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
+ publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute the
+ Work and such Derivative Works in Source or Object form.
- B. Any new file that contains any part of the Original Code or
- previous Modifications.
+ 3. Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of
+ this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
+ worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable
+ (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made,
+ use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work,
+ where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable
+ by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their
+ Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s)
+ with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted. If You
+ institute patent litigation against any entity (including a
+ cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work
+ or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct
+ or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses
+ granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate
+ as of the date such litigation is filed.
- 1.10. "Original Code" means Source Code of computer software code
- which is described in the Source Code notice required by Exhibit A as
- Original Code, and which, at the time of its release under this
- License is not already Covered Code governed by this License.
+ 4. Redistribution. You may reproduce and distribute copies of the
+ Work or Derivative Works thereof in any medium, with or without
+ modifications, and in Source or Object form, provided that You
+ meet the following conditions:
- 1.10.1. "Patent Claims" means any patent claim(s), now owned or
- hereafter acquired, including without limitation, method, process,
- and apparatus claims, in any patent Licensable by grantor.
+ (a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or
+ Derivative Works a copy of this License; and
- 1.11. "Source Code" means the preferred form of the Covered Code for
- making modifications to it, including all modules it contains, plus
- any associated interface definition files, scripts used to control
- compilation and installation of an Executable, or source code
- differential comparisons against either the Original Code or another
- well known, available Covered Code of the Contributor's choice. The
- Source Code can be in a compressed or archival form, provided the
- appropriate decompression or de-archiving software is widely available
- for no charge.
+ (b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
+ stating that You changed the files; and
- 1.12. "You" (or "Your") means an individual or a legal entity
- exercising rights under, and complying with all of the terms of, this
- License or a future version of this License issued under Section 6.1.
- For legal entities, "You" includes any entity which controls, is
- controlled by, or is under common control with You. For purposes of
- this definition, "control" means (a) the power, direct or indirect,
- to cause the direction or management of such entity, whether by
- contract or otherwise, or (b) ownership of more than fifty percent
- (50%) of the outstanding shares or beneficial ownership of such
- entity.
+ (c) You must retain, in the Source form of any Derivative Works
+ that You distribute, all copyright, patent, trademark, and
+ attribution notices from the Source form of the Work,
+ excluding those notices that do not pertain to any part of
+ the Derivative Works; and
-2. Source Code License.
+ (d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its
+ distribution, then any Derivative Works that You distribute must
+ include a readable copy of the attribution notices contained
+ within such NOTICE file, excluding those notices that do not
+ pertain to any part of the Derivative Works, in at least one
+ of the following places: within a NOTICE text file distributed
+ as part of the Derivative Works; within the Source form or
+ documentation, if provided along with the Derivative Works; or,
+ within a display generated by the Derivative Works, if and
+ wherever such third-party notices normally appear. The contents
+ of the NOTICE file are for informational purposes only and
+ do not modify the License. You may add Your own attribution
+ notices within Derivative Works that You distribute, alongside
+ or as an addendum to the NOTICE text from the Work, provided
+ that such additional attribution notices cannot be construed
+ as modifying the License.
- 2.1. The Initial Developer Grant.
- The Initial Developer hereby grants You a world-wide, royalty-free,
- non-exclusive license, subject to third party intellectual property
- claims:
- (a) under intellectual property rights (other than patent or
- trademark) Licensable by Initial Developer to use, reproduce,
- modify, display, perform, sublicense and distribute the Original
- Code (or portions thereof) with or without Modifications, and/or
- as part of a Larger Work; and
+ You may add Your own copyright statement to Your modifications and
+ may provide additional or different license terms and conditions
+ for use, reproduction, or distribution of Your modifications, or
+ for any such Derivative Works as a whole, provided Your use,
+ reproduction, and distribution of the Work otherwise complies with
+ the conditions stated in this License.
- (b) under Patents Claims infringed by the making, using or
- selling of Original Code, to make, have made, use, practice,
- sell, and offer for sale, and/or otherwise dispose of the
- Original Code (or portions thereof).
+ 5. Submission of Contributions. Unless You explicitly state otherwise,
+ any Contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the Work
+ by You to the Licensor shall be under the terms and conditions of
+ this License, without any additional terms or conditions.
+ Notwithstanding the above, nothing herein shall supersede or modify
+ the terms of any separate license agreement you may have executed
+ with Licensor regarding such Contributions.
- (c) the licenses granted in this Section 2.1(a) and (b) are
- effective on the date Initial Developer first distributes
- Original Code under the terms of this License.
+ 6. Trademarks. This License does not grant permission to use the trade
+ names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of the Licensor,
+ except as required for reasonable and customary use in describing the
+ origin of the Work and reproducing the content of the NOTICE file.
- (d) Notwithstanding Section 2.1(b) above, no patent license is
- granted: 1) for code that You delete from the Original Code; 2)
- separate from the Original Code; or 3) for infringements caused
- by: i) the modification of the Original Code or ii) the
- combination of the Original Code with other software or devices.
+ 7. Disclaimer of Warranty. Unless required by applicable law or
+ agreed to in writing, Licensor provides the Work (and each
+ Contributor provides its Contributions) on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or
+ implied, including, without limitation, any warranties or conditions
+ of TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, or FITNESS FOR A
+ PARTICULAR PURPOSE. You are solely responsible for determining the
+ appropriateness of using or redistributing the Work and assume any
+ risks associated with Your exercise of permissions under this License.
- 2.2. Contributor Grant.
- Subject to third party intellectual property claims, each Contributor
- hereby grants You a world-wide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license
+ 8. Limitation of Liability. In no event and under no legal theory,
+ whether in tort (including negligence), contract, or otherwise,
+ unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate and grossly
+ negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
+ liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special,
+ incidental, or consequential damages of any character arising as a
+ result of this License or out of the use or inability to use the
+ Work (including but not limited to damages for loss of goodwill,
+ work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all
+ other commercial damages or losses), even if such Contributor
+ has been advised of the possibility of such damages.
- (a) under intellectual property rights (other than patent or
- trademark) Licensable by Contributor, to use, reproduce, modify,
- display, perform, sublicense and distribute the Modifications
- created by such Contributor (or portions thereof) either on an
- unmodified basis, with other Modifications, as Covered Code
- and/or as part of a Larger Work; and
+ 9. Accepting Warranty or Additional Liability. While redistributing
+ the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to offer,
+ and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity,
+ or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this
+ License. However, in accepting such obligations, You may act only
+ on Your own behalf and on Your sole responsibility, not on behalf
+ of any other Contributor, and only if You agree to indemnify,
+ defend, and hold each Contributor harmless for any liability
+ incurred by, or claims asserted against, such Contributor by reason
+ of your accepting any such warranty or additional liability.
- (b) under Patent Claims infringed by the making, using, or
- selling of Modifications made by that Contributor either alone
- and/or in combination with its Contributor Version (or portions
- of such combination), to make, use, sell, offer for sale, have
- made, and/or otherwise dispose of: 1) Modifications made by that
- Contributor (or portions thereof); and 2) the combination of
- Modifications made by that Contributor with its Contributor
- Version (or portions of such combination).
+ END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
- (c) the licenses granted in Sections 2.2(a) and 2.2(b) are
- effective on the date Contributor first makes Commercial Use of
- the Covered Code.
+ APPENDIX: How to apply the Apache License to your work.
- (d) Notwithstanding Section 2.2(b) above, no patent license is
- granted: 1) for any code that Contributor has deleted from the
- Contributor Version; 2) separate from the Contributor Version;
- 3) for infringements caused by: i) third party modifications of
- Contributor Version or ii) the combination of Modifications made
- by that Contributor with other software (except as part of the
- Contributor Version) or other devices; or 4) under Patent Claims
- infringed by Covered Code in the absence of Modifications made by
- that Contributor.
+ To apply the Apache License to your work, attach the following
+ boilerplate notice, with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]"
+ replaced with your own identifying information. (Don't include
+ the brackets!) The text should be enclosed in the appropriate
+ comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a
+ file or class name and description of purpose be included on the
+ same "printed page" as the copyright notice for easier
+ identification within third-party archives.
-3. Distribution Obligations.
+ Copyright [yyyy] [name of copyright owner]
- 3.1. Application of License.
- The Modifications which You create or to which You contribute are
- governed by the terms of this License, including without limitation
- Section 2.2. The Source Code version of Covered Code may be
- distributed only under the terms of this License or a future version
- of this License released under Section 6.1, and You must include a
- copy of this License with every copy of the Source Code You
- distribute. You may not offer or impose any terms on any Source Code
- version that alters or restricts the applicable version of this
- License or the recipients' rights hereunder. However, You may include
- an additional document offering the additional rights described in
- Section 3.5.
+ Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ You may obtain a copy of the License at
- 3.2. Availability of Source Code.
- Any Modification which You create or to which You contribute must be
- made available in Source Code form under the terms of this License
- either on the same media as an Executable version or via an accepted
- Electronic Distribution Mechanism to anyone to whom you made an
- Executable version available; and if made available via Electronic
- Distribution Mechanism, must remain available for at least twelve (12)
- months after the date it initially became available, or at least six
- (6) months after a subsequent version of that particular Modification
- has been made available to such recipients. You are responsible for
- ensuring that the Source Code version remains available even if the
- Electronic Distribution Mechanism is maintained by a third party.
+ http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
- 3.3. Description of Modifications.
- You must cause all Covered Code to which You contribute to contain a
- file documenting the changes You made to create that Covered Code and
- the date of any change. You must include a prominent statement that
- the Modification is derived, directly or indirectly, from Original
- Code provided by the Initial Developer and including the name of the
- Initial Developer in (a) the Source Code, and (b) in any notice in an
- Executable version or related documentation in which You describe the
- origin or ownership of the Covered Code.
-
- 3.4. Intellectual Property Matters
- (a) Third Party Claims.
- If Contributor has knowledge that a license under a third party's
- intellectual property rights is required to exercise the rights
- granted by such Contributor under Sections 2.1 or 2.2,
- Contributor must include a text file with the Source Code
- distribution titled "LEGAL" which describes the claim and the
- party making the claim in sufficient detail that a recipient will
- know whom to contact. If Contributor obtains such knowledge after
- the Modification is made available as described in Section 3.2,
- Contributor shall promptly modify the LEGAL file in all copies
- Contributor makes available thereafter and shall take other steps
- (such as notifying appropriate mailing lists or newsgroups)
- reasonably calculated to inform those who received the Covered
- Code that new knowledge has been obtained.
-
- (b) Contributor APIs.
- If Contributor's Modifications include an application programming
- interface and Contributor has knowledge of patent licenses which
- are reasonably necessary to implement that API, Contributor must
- also include this information in the LEGAL file.
-
- (c) Representations.
- Contributor represents that, except as disclosed pursuant to
- Section 3.4(a) above, Contributor believes that Contributor's
- Modifications are Contributor's original creation(s) and/or
- Contributor has sufficient rights to grant the rights conveyed by
- this License.
-
- 3.5. Required Notices.
- You must duplicate the notice in Exhibit A in each file of the Source
- Code. If it is not possible to put such notice in a particular Source
- Code file due to its structure, then You must include such notice in a
- location (such as a relevant directory) where a user would be likely
- to look for such a notice. If You created one or more Modification(s)
- You may add your name as a Contributor to the notice described in
- Exhibit A. You must also duplicate this License in any documentation
- for the Source Code where You describe recipients' rights or ownership
- rights relating to Covered Code. You may choose to offer, and to
- charge a fee for, warranty, support, indemnity or liability
- obligations to one or more recipients of Covered Code. However, You
- may do so only on Your own behalf, and not on behalf of the Initial
- Developer or any Contributor. You must make it absolutely clear than
- any such warranty, support, indemnity or liability obligation is
- offered by You alone, and You hereby agree to indemnify the Initial
- Developer and every Contributor for any liability incurred by the
- Initial Developer or such Contributor as a result of warranty,
- support, indemnity or liability terms You offer.
-
- 3.6. Distribution of Executable Versions.
- You may distribute Covered Code in Executable form only if the
- requirements of Section 3.1-3.5 have been met for that Covered Code,
- and if You include a notice stating that the Source Code version of
- the Covered Code is available under the terms of this License,
- including a description of how and where You have fulfilled the
- obligations of Section 3.2. The notice must be conspicuously included
- in any notice in an Executable version, related documentation or
- collateral in which You describe recipients' rights relating to the
- Covered Code. You may distribute the Executable version of Covered
- Code or ownership rights under a license of Your choice, which may
- contain terms different from this License, provided that You are in
- compliance with the terms of this License and that the license for the
- Executable version does not attempt to limit or alter the recipient's
- rights in the Source Code version from the rights set forth in this
- License. If You distribute the Executable version under a different
- license You must make it absolutely clear that any terms which differ
- from this License are offered by You alone, not by the Initial
- Developer or any Contributor. You hereby agree to indemnify the
- Initial Developer and every Contributor for any liability incurred by
- the Initial Developer or such Contributor as a result of any such
- terms You offer.
-
- 3.7. Larger Works.
- You may create a Larger Work by combining Covered Code with other code
- not governed by the terms of this License and distribute the Larger
- Work as a single product. In such a case, You must make sure the
- requirements of this License are fulfilled for the Covered Code.
-
-4. Inability to Comply Due to Statute or Regulation.
-
- If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this
- License with respect to some or all of the Covered Code due to
- statute, judicial order, or regulation then You must: (a) comply with
- the terms of this License to the maximum extent possible; and (b)
- describe the limitations and the code they affect. Such description
- must be included in the LEGAL file described in Section 3.4 and must
- be included with all distributions of the Source Code. Except to the
- extent prohibited by statute or regulation, such description must be
- sufficiently detailed for a recipient of ordinary skill to be able to
- understand it.
-
-5. Application of this License.
-
- This License applies to code to which the Initial Developer has
- attached the notice in Exhibit A and to related Covered Code.
-
-6. Versions of the License.
-
- 6.1. New Versions.
- Netscape Communications Corporation ("Netscape") may publish revised
- and/or new versions of the License from time to time. Each version
- will be given a distinguishing version number.
-
- 6.2. Effect of New Versions.
- Once Covered Code has been published under a particular version of the
- License, You may always continue to use it under the terms of that
- version. You may also choose to use such Covered Code under the terms
- of any subsequent version of the License published by Netscape. No one
- other than Netscape has the right to modify the terms applicable to
- Covered Code created under this License.
-
- 6.3. Derivative Works.
- If You create or use a modified version of this License (which you may
- only do in order to apply it to code which is not already Covered Code
- governed by this L

Answer 3

I really don't want this to be an answer, because the only MPL code I know I use on a daily basis is Firefox, which is actually triple licensed...so don't quote me.
2.1. The Initial Developer Grant.
"The Initial Developer hereby grants You a world-wide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license, subject to third party intellectual property claims:
under intellectual property rights (other than patent or trademark) Licensable by Initial Developer to use, reproduce, modify, display, perform, sublicense and distribute the Original Code (or portions thereof) with or without Modifications, and/or as part of a Larger Work; and"
3.7. Larger Works.
You may create a Larger Work by combining Covered Code with other code not governed by the terms of this License and distribute the Larger Work as a single product. In such a case, You must make sure the requirements of this License are fulfilled for the Covered Code.
Wasn't so bad, was it? Looks like if all you do is link against the code, you don't have to open your code, but you have to comply with the terms for all the stuff that was MPL licensed when you started.
Oblig "don't quote me" bit: In that way it's sort of like the LGPL.