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On the one hand there is http://ckfinder.com/

CKFinder or the people behind it have always been very vague about their licenses when we asked information about them, so we aren't really fond of using their commercially licensed products.

So I've looked for an alternative and found http://kcfinder.sunhater.com which comes with an LGPL license, perfect for use in a commercial application that just wants to use the file browser and not modify it.

Now they both look very similar and my question is: is KCfinder a legal alternative to CKfinder? Or is it an exact and modified copy?

Does anyone know this or can find this out?

durron597
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Jorre
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3 Answers3

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Yes. Just because KCFinder has a similar name and interface doesn't mean that it violates the license of CKFinder. To do that, it would have to reuse the CKFinder code, and the author says he developed KCFinder "because I was unable to find a usable free alternative of the commercial CKFinder." There's no reason to assume that he copied any code. If he had, the author of CKFinder would have undoubtedly found out, and it would no longer be available.

Its being featured on the SourceForge Blog should erase any doubt. blog

Ja8zyjits
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mwhite
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    Don't you find a little ironic that he states that he has developed this because he wasn't able to find a free alternative (although there are several ones), and at the same time he's already stating that he's planning on providing more features in a paid version? – AlfonsoML Jun 25 '10 at 07:08
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    Can you please provide examples of free alternatives. – Basel Shishani Sep 28 '11 at 09:46
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    It seems the kcFinder project is dead (at least, that is what's stated in Drupal's [KCFinder integration module](https://drupal.org/project/kcfinder) page. For those using Drupal, they recommend using [IMCE](https://drupal.org/project/imce). Don't know of alternatives for other frameworks. – Urb Gim Tam Oct 25 '13 at 09:41
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    @UrbGimTam kcFinder is still going strong a year after your comment. Latest commits (at time of writing, Nov 2014) in September. – Nick Rice Nov 11 '14 at 13:39
  • @UrbGimTam, the drupal module "kcfinder integration" (https://www.drupal.org/project/kcfinder) is dead, but the kcfinder project is going strong. In addition, there is an alternative module "CKEditor KCFinder" (https://www.drupal.org/project/ckeditor_kcfinder) which is supported and active. – Kevin Finkenbinder Sep 12 '18 at 13:18
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A good alternative is elFinder (http://elfinder.org/).
Licensed under a 3 clauses BSD license.

alsantos123
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At least the name is clearly a low level marketing attempt to confuse users and disturb CKFinder. There is a good chance that this is a trade mark violation.

fredck
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    I don't understand why my answer has been lower rated... the question was all about the *legality* of that application. I've left an opinion about a *legal* aspect of it. It may not be a complete answer, but it adds something about the overall *legal* resolution around it (yes, trade mark violation is illegal). – fredck Mar 09 '15 at 09:36
  • Regardless of whether it is illegal or not, choosing such a similar name is obviously unethical. – lurkit May 14 '15 at 20:11