topic Re: About FBX SDk License in FBX Forum

About FBX SDk License

Anonymous — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:51:51 GMT

Hi everybody

As all our customers deal with FBX, we finally plan to add an Fbx Import/Export function to our softwares.

Then, the question is : can we do it for free ? The SDK is free, easy to use, multi platform : sounds like perfect ! Even the license looks great : "you can use the SDK for commercial purposes (i) to create a software product with the capability to read and/or write and/or translate Your files, which software product links to the Library". Exactly what we need...

But I you read further in the Prohibited Actions section, you'll find that it's prohibited to "distribute, rent, loan, lease, sell, sublicense, or otherwise transfer all or any portion of the Autodesk Materials, or any rights granted in this Agreement, to any other person without the prior written consent of Autodesk", Autodesk Materials which include binary code libraries...

Here's the problem ? Should I contact Autodesk for a written consent each time we sell one of our component with a fbx importer/exporter inside ? Can someone turn my light on ? Thx.

Re: About FBX SDk License

luc.vovan — Sun, 14 Sep 2008 19:20:35 GMT

I think it's been answered by email right?

If not, ping me.

Luc

Re: About FBX SDk License

Anonymous — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 15:58:26 GMT

Yes it has been ! Thx about it.

If someone have the same question one day, feel free to mail me.
Have a good day.

Re: About FBX SDk License

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 18:41:03 GMT

I am in the same situation. we want to license our code but it uses FBX SDK so we dont know well the restrictions.
Can anybody drop me an answer here? thanks

Re: About FBX SDk License

daviesm — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:26:47 GMT

The intent of the license is this. You can build applications that read, write, manipulate FBX data. You can distribute these products as you see fit. However in the 2009.1 release we add this clause.

2.4 You shall place the following statement in the copyright area of (i) the on-line documentation regarding the Developed Software, (ii) the End-User License and/or terms of use for the Developed Software, (iii) the ‘About Box’ or similar notice page of the Developed Software and (iv) any other document related to Developed Software that contains copyright information:
"This software contains Autodesk® FBX® code developed by Autodesk, Inc. Copyright 2008 Autodesk, Inc. All rights, reserved. Such code is provided "as is" and Autodesk, Inc. disclaims any and all warranties, whether express or implied, including without limitation the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement of third party rights. In no event shall Autodesk, Inc. be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damages (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute goods or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on any theory of liability, whether in contract, strict liability, or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of such code."

In the prohibited section the restriction is that you cannot repackage and distribute the SDK without our written consent. You cannot claim the SDK to be your own, that is what that clause prevents.

Mark Davies

Re: About FBX SDk License

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:31:49 GMT

Thanks Mark. The problem is that we are developing a framework for 3d application, this means there is no EULA or About box, but I guess we can add your clausules to ours so the end user add the propper credit to autodesk in the applications developed with our framework. Correct me if I am wrong.

Thanks again.

Re: About FBX SDk License

luc.vovan — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:06:03 GMT

Mark? any idea on this?

Re: About FBX SDk License

daviesm — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 04:05:05 GMT

Adding the clause to your license would be sufficient

Re: About FBX SDk License

PAMD76 — Fri, 06 Oct 2017 08:22:13 GMT

Hello,

I'm aware this is an old thread, I'm looking at submitting an UE4 plugin to their market place and Epic require licenses to be supplied for any 3rd party software. My plugin uses the FBX SDK 2016, I'm also shipping a 3ds Max plugin along side which of course uses the 3ds Max SDK to be built and the FBX Extension SDK, how do I obtain these licenses?

Thanks,

Michael

Re: About FBX SDk License

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 08:47:40 GMT

Yes, I have the same question.

And the setense above "In the prohibited section the restriction is that you cannot repackage and distribute the SDK without our written consent. " meationed "consent". What is it? And how can I get it? Thanks.

Re: About FBX SDk License

daviesm — Sun, 04 Nov 2018 17:49:46 GMT

You should PM me to discuss what you are intending to do.

I cannot give consent, it would need to be reviewed. However, I am a good first contact to discuss this.

Mark

Re: About FBX SDk License

Anonymous — Wed, 02 Oct 2019 14:17:30 GMT

Hi Mark,

Could you please confirm if we need any type of license for importing FBX files in a bespoke software that we are building for our client?

Thanks,

Manos

Re: About FBX SDk License

Anonymous — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 12:53:04 GMT

Hi,

I too would like to use FBX in my commercial product .

Can I do it ?

What do I need to do in order to agree with license ????

Regards

S.Ancelot

Re: About FBX SDk License

daviesm — Wed, 23 Oct 2019 13:34:17 GMT

See my reply above from 2008 it still stands as the answer

Re: About FBX SDk License

Anonymous — Thu, 02 Jan 2020 06:46:07 GMT

Just had a follow up question to this thread. Am I allowed to distribute the FBX sdk .dll files if my application is dynamically linked to them?

Re: About FBX SDk License

valeriiCLEKF — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 16:02:13 GMT

Dear @daviesm,

I tried to reach you via PM, but the system says you have not enabled it. Let me ask my question here.

Do I understand right that I don't need written consent from Autodesk to distribute my application which contains FBX SDK (and, if dynamically linked, to provide corresponding shared libraries to end-users), and I only need to insert the copyright notice from Autodesk?

Should I add special notices to CMakeLists.txt if I use parts of code from Autodesk samples there?

Should I add copyright notices about zlib and libxml2?

Also, I could find FBX SDK on the US version of the website but not on the UK version. Does it mean that the SDK is unavailable for UK users, or is it just an issue of the website?

Thanks,
Valerii

Re: About FBX SDk License

cms9094 — Tue, 20 Jun 2023 22:47:51 GMT

I am in a similar situation. We have a proprietary piece of software that requires the FBX SDK, and I'd like to know if I still need written permission in order to include it as part of a package we might be selling at some point. Obviously, we would never claim it as our own, and take into account everything I've seen in this thread so far.

Still, I've tried contacting Dave through PM, but am not able to. I've even contacted someone else in an attempt to get in touch with Dave, but have not heard back yet.