What are the rights granted by contributors to VMware?
VMware provides a royalty-free license to its source code for creating contributions or black box modules that interoperate with ESX. The partners that contribute code provide, likewise, a royalty-free license and rights to, among other things, include the code with VMware products. Partners continue to own the patents, if any, that may be associated with their contributions or black-box modules. If partners create black box modules, VMware is neither obligated nor has a license to distribute the black-box module unless VMware contracts separately with a partner to do so. The Community Source Program document will provide the definitive and binding version of the terms of the program. Participating partners will need to abide by the provisions of this document.
