[sword-devel] On the topic of an iPhone front-end

[DM Smith]

I don't think format shifting is the issue. The module's permission for 
distribution restricted modules is that CrossWire has been given 
permission to distribute. I don't read into this that it is "only in 
SWORD's module format." IMHO, as long as the text is obtained by the end 
user from CrossWire it should be ok. But putting the module on another 
server, in that, or any other format, that would not be distribution by 
CrossWire.

So I think that there are a few possible avenues:
1) The application pulls the module to the user's device and uses it 
however the application does it. If that application does format 
shifting (which I agree is what the Lucene index is partially doing), 
that would be fine. But it would be entirely unnecessary. If the user's 
application can read the module to do format shifting, then it can read 
the module and render it too.
2) Get an agreement to do format shifting and store the results on the 
CrossWire server.
3) Don't make "CrossWire only" modules available without getting 
separate permission to distribute from a different location.

In Him,
    DM

Nathan Youngman wrote:
> Yah, those modules.
>
> Assuming you were to visit the site with Safari 3.1 (desktop), the  
> built in data browser could be used to view the content of the SQLite  
> database. Would that cause any concerns for CrossWire-only distributed  
> modules? (i.e. user copying > 500 words)
>
> - nathan
>
> On 16-Apr-08, at 5:12 PM, Jonathan Morgan wrote:
>
>   
>> I suspect that he is thinking of the license the modules are
>> distributed under (e.g. permission to distribute to CrossWire).
>>
>> I don't think that this is likely to be a problem, since users are
>> allowed to use modules (even intended to).  There may be a suggestion
>> that it is format shifting, and I don't know what the CrossWire policy
>> on this is, but I wouldn't consider it any different from building an
>> index containing the content of the module for quick searching (which
>> CrossWire does).  There shouldn't be any distribution of the client
>> side data.
>>
>> Jon
>>