Hi all,
I am raising a stupid question. If I develop a software, publish it in sourceforge with source code. But is is based on a commercial package, an evaluation version.
Will I have any copyright problem? Is it illegal?
A:
Yes, you probably will have a problem. Read the details of the EULA of the package for more info, but evaluation licence usually doesn't allow you to even deploy to production environments. Make sure, that even the full version allows you to release it as part of your package.
Jakub Konecki
2010-10-28 12:07:32
A:
Depends on what 'based on' means, what was the licence for the evaluation version, and possibly what jurisdiction you live in. Ask a lawyer.
But the answer is probably "don't do it".
Colin Fine
2010-10-28 12:08:36
A:
If it's only your own code that you are publishing, then there is no copyright issue (copyright generally goes to the author of the code), but you are almost certainly violating the licensing terms of the product you used to develop it.
Marcelo Cantos
2010-10-28 12:08:55
A:
It depends. Are you actually using the code? Or just building an add-on? If you are building an add-on, and say "This product is designed to work with xxx, which can be downloaded here", you are likely fine. If you are releasing a stand alone application which includes the commercial software, then you are in trouble.
chris
2010-10-28 12:10:36
+1
A:
It depends on what you mean by "based on". If it works like how you saw the commercial package working, then that's just fine. You might have some trouble if you slavishly copied how their interface looks, but if you make updates that issue would generally go away quickly.
If you copied their source code, that's a whole different kettle of fish. Source code (in the USA anyway) is automatically copyrighted. If you want to copy some and give it to someone else, you are restricted to what rights the copyright holder gave you. For commercial "closed source" code, that is generally none, but you need to check your license. Then again, I can't think of a closed-source developer I've ever seen give folks their source code, so that probably isn't your issue.
T.E.D.
2010-10-28 12:12:03
I meant I use a library (jar file), to built a software. Of course, i write the interface, but its underlying mechanism relies on that evaluation distribution.
2010-10-28 13:44:46
You almost certianly can't redistribute their program yourself (check their license). There's probably nothing stopping you from writing a wrapper and distributing that by itself (with instructions to download their app to use it with). You really have to read their license though.
T.E.D.
2010-10-28 15:39:49