The OpenFOAM-Extend Project

Web site: http://www.extend-project.de/

The goal of the FOAM-Extend Project is to open the OpenFOAM CFD toolbox
to community contributed extensions in the spirit of the Open Source
development model.

Software under the name OpenFOAM has been developed by a large group of
volunteers starting in 1991 and has spread through scientific and engineering
community in the late 1990s and early 2000s.  Its main strength was the spirit
of open collaboration in the community: the aim of the OpenFOAM-Extend Project
is to formalize this spirit.

 * Trademark notice
  Currently, the word "OpenFOAM" is held as a trademark by a commercial
  company, not associated with the Open Source development effort of this
  software.  While the author acknowledges the existence of Trademark,
  association of trademarked phrase with the the code developed by third
  parties and including the author is misleading in terms of authorship,
  ownership of intellectual property of the source code.

  In the absence of a legal resolution, we shall refer to the project as the
  -Extend project and software as "OpenFOAM", as per agreement between
  Prof. Hrvoje Jasak and Mr. Henry G. Weller of 30 September 2004.

  The excerpts below are from the correspondences of Dr.Jasak and are to
  his knowledge all the relevant writings about this topic. Although
  this topic has been discussed before in public forums there exists no
  'official' answer by OpenCFD on this issue. In the interest of
  fairness a reference (link) to such an answer will be added to this
  document as soon as we come aware of it.

    09/30/2004 01:45 PM

    Dear Dr. Jasak,

    I propose that we make FOAM open-source and shutdown Nabla, that way we
     are free to pursue whatever future we wish independently.

    Henry G. Weller
    Managing Director
    Nabla Ltd

    The first release of the OpenFOAM source code of 10 December 2004
    and subsequent clarification of 16 February 2005.

    Hi Henry,

    ...

    Regarding the new setup, I would like to thank you for your effort i
    n making FOAM public domain, with crucial comments regarding some
    important details.

    - in the header files for the open version of foam there exists a line
     which claims copyright for OpenCFD Ltd:

    Copyright (C) 1991-2004 OpenCFD Ltd.

    I am not sure whether it is possible to claim copyright over a GPL piece
    of software, but this is at least misleading.  In order for this
    statement to be true, OpenCFD Ltd. would need to purchase the copyright
    from Nabla Ltd. and from you and me personally (due to unresolved
    ownership and the remaining payments Nabla Ltd. needs to make to us
    regarding the original transfer of copyright).  I can offer a number
    of solutions acceptable to me as follows:

        1) no Copyright statement apart from the required GPL statement
        2) Copyright OpenFOAM.org
        3) Copyright Henry Weller, Hrvoje Jasak et al
        4) Copyright OpenCFD and Hrvoje Jasak
        5) List of authors instead of the copyright statement

    I am also prepared to consider any other reasonable ideas along the same
    lines (including the sale of copyright, which would be a bit pointless
    at this stage) - please advise.


    02/17/2005 11:09 PM

    Under the GPL there has to be an organization in place to enforce the GPL
    if there are violation, these are part of the rules.  OpenCFD undertakes
    that responsibility hence the copyright.

    Henry G. Weller
    Managing Director


    12 November 2010

    From the above it is clear that OpenCFD does not own the rights or
    authorship of the source code, which is currently concealed in public.
    For further details, I have been attempting to get a formal response by
    this company for 6 years now, without success.  It is time to move on.

    The current Copyright notice does not fairly describe the authorship of
    the software.  In the spirit of the open source development model, the
    -Extend project wishes to formally acknowledge all contributors and
    developers of OpenFOAM from its inception to today.

    As this issue still remains unresolved, and the list of contributors
    has been removed from the OpenFOAM source code by Mr. Weller in 2006,
    we shall re-base OpenFOAM as an Open Source community-based project
    and associate the authorship and Copyright in each case with the
    original author.

    Hrvoje Jasak


This offering is not affiliated with OpenCFD Limited, owner of the OpenFOAM
trade mark.


Please find the official website of OpenCFD Limited at http://www.openfoam.org
In particular, OpenCFD Limited hosts the following legal statements:
- licensing and intellectual property: http://www.openfoam.com/legal/index.php
- trademark policy: http://www.openfoam.com/legal/trademark-policy.php