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MySQL - licensing issues, even with using the name

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2009-03-16 23:38:30 - Graham Ellis

MySQL is a really good database and it's been available for a very long time under an open source license - indeed this piece of text will be stored in a MySQL database when I've added it to our web site using the Movable Type software , and pulled back from there using both Movable type software (here), and also our own software (here). However, it has always been at the more commercial end of the Open Source movement, with tighter licensing conditions that most. That was the background for MySQL drivers being withdrawn from PHP at release 5 of PHP (if you want MySQL in release 5 of PHP, you have to download MySQL yourself, first, before you build as there's not a bundle - we do this on our LAMP deployment and Web Server Deployment courses. And that tighter license helped to add to the commercial value of the MySQL company which sold out about a year ago to Sun Microsystems for a reputed 1 billion dollars.

We've just received an email from Google - and I'm pretty sure it's genuine - telling us that we can no longer use the keyword "MySQL" in our Adwords campaigns. Because "MySQL" is a trademark.


> > ----------------------------------------------
> > Campaign: 'Wiltshire,' Ad Group: 'Ad Group #1'
> > ----------------------------------------------
> >
> > AD TEXT:
> >
> > Melksham, Wiltshire, UK
> > Perl PHP Java Tcl/Tk MySQL & Java
> > Scheduled and private courses
> > www.wellho.co.uk
> >
> > Action taken: Suspended - Pending Revision
> > Issue(s): Ad Text Trademark Term
> > ~~~~~~~~~
> >
> > SUGGESTIONS:
> > -> Ad Content: Please remove the following trademark from your ad:
> > mysql.

Now that's an interesting one!

I used to express an opinion that the MySQL folks had done their database a dis-service by having a license that restricted it so that it could no longer be part of the PHP distribution - in some quarters, the lack of the MySQL driver in the PHP distribution persuaded people NOT to upgrade / use a technology where two of the key element's players couldn't agree on a combined, Open Source download. And that it did not bode very well for the future. I may be wrong in that opinion as they seem to go from strength to strength and are probably (I've not got the commercial figures of course) doing a good job in making more people purchase rather than use the open source version.

I've plenty more to do than to do anything to fight to keep the MySQL as a Google keyword, and our model is open source, so I'll be suggesting to Chris who looks after the various campaigns that we update ads like the one above to push our Lua (on the most open of open source licenses, and also much more fun to teach as it's a language not a database) and Ruby courses ...