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73

answers:

3

Is there a licence out there that reserves my right to use the software commercially, however permits redistribution and modification of said software for non-commercial uses?

Basically I want to be the sole person who can distribute it for commercial purposes. However, non-commercial distribution and modification is open for everyone.

A: 

When you are the copyright owner, you can define the terms of use much to your liking...

You could require your customers / licensees to use your software under a license such as GNU GPL, Creative Commons NonCommercial ShareAlike or anything you deem appropriate.

Archimedix
Well, that's exactly his question. Are there ready-made licenses that are tailored to these requirements? I imagine the GPL won't work, because it doesn't prohibit commercial use, it just requires authors to re-publish the code under the same terms; CC is not really suitable for software as far as I know.
Pekka
Yes, you can license your own work as you please. However, neither of those licenses make much sense. GPL is not non-commercial, and and Creative Commons [strongly discourages](http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FFAQ#Can_I_license_software_using_CC_licenses.3F) using their licenses for software.
Matthew Flaschen
Well, GPL at least requires redistribution of modified versions in the same form and can therefore deter some commercial reuse scenarios. Concerning CC, yes, you are right that it was not designed for software but other creative works.
Archimedix
+3  A: 

Yes, you simply need to use multi-licensing to distribute your software under two or more different sets of terms and conditions. There are a number of products using this approach, one of the good examples is MySQL.

Vlad Lazarenko
A: 

It's a typical case when license templates will not help you much.

Because you don't want to write your own license youself, or worse, copy/paste paragraphs you don't understand from the templates, you really need to hire a lawyer if you are serious in doing business in software.

Pierre 303