License Question

gooze wrote:
> Hi
>
> I know, this might be the wrong place for such a question, but maybe
> you can redirect me to the right place to post.
>
> I wrote a small software under the GNU General Public License and put
> it on freshmeat.net for download. Now, someone likes this software and
> wants it to integrate into his own software as a module. This software
> is for sale. Is there a meaningfull solution about this issue? I just
> would like to give a "common" answer instead of a exotic one.
>
> thanks to all, Stefan
Hi Stefan,

The GNU Public License does not forbid the one who owns the copyrights
to the software to give of sell other licenses to whoever he wants. I
know several examples of software that is licensed under several
different licenses, including GPL.

Be aware that this is only the case if you really own all of the
copyrights on the software. If you only obtained a license on (parts of)
it, you are bound to the rules of that license as a licensee.

So, if you wrote the software and if it is not owned by your boss, and
you did not sell or otherwise transfer your rights, you can still
license others to use or sublicense you software.

Consider to:
1. not license him to do more then he asks for. So if he wants to give
others a license to use your software as a module of his own software,
put a clear description of his software into the license agreement as
well as of for what the software is allowed to be used. If possible also
include a description of to who he may give or sell those licenses. This
is not only in your commercial interest, it also decreases your risk for
legal claims. (i am afraid that 'exotic answers' are, in this respect,
better then common answers)
2. put a valid disclaimer into the license agreement. Be aware that the
kind of disclaimers that are in licenses like the GPL may not be valid
in your country or in the particular case. For example in Holland there
is something like 'consumers rights' that can not be taken away by a
disclaimer.
3. put a clause in the license agreement under which countries' law the
license agreement resides, so that the meaning of 'your country' in
point 2 is clear.
4. In some countries it may not be good enough to just send him
a license. Consider asking him to sign a license agreement
and send it back to you.

Maybe you can learn about all this by reading general conditions and/or
license agreements of software companies in your country.

If you find this an exotic answer, LGPL is meant to license people to
use open source software as part of other, not-GPLled software. But it
is a pritty complicated license. For example, the BSD license is much
simpeler and allows it too (and more). See
http://www.opensource.org/licenses

Greetings,

Henk Verhoeven,
www.phpPeanuts.org.

In no event shall the sender of this message be liable to any person for
any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of
any character arising as a result of reading this message or basing acts
upon its contents. Anyone who wants to or does license and/or or
distribute software is advised to seek sound legal advice from an expert
in the applicable law. Reading this message and/or license agreements
can not replace that advice.

Ginzo <sumpn@hotmail.com> writes:

> Under the GNU GPL, he need only acknowledge your contribution, unless
> you have otherwise attached some cost to it.

Um no, if he wants to integrate your GPL code into his he needs to
publish his app under the GPL. Now if you wrote your code you can
choose to licence it to him seperatly if you would like. In that case
you and he will ahve to come to some sort of agreement on terms, and
then you are all set. Duel licencing is common in some places.

--Zach