20
votes
Own project: Open source to closed source
In the year 2000, Borland released the code to its InterBase database software as open source. For weird corporate politics reasons, they quickly walked it back and decided that further development ...
- 82.4k
19
votes
Accepted
Own project: Open source to closed source
Is that possible with me as the original copyright holder (with no one having contributed changes except me)?
Yes, of course. It's your code, you can do whatever you want with it.
Even if I ...
- 103k
10
votes
Accepted
Can I use libraries published under MPL 2.0 and MIT in a project that uses APL 2.0?
None of the MPL, MIT or Apache licenses are viral. This means that none of the licenses tries to extend its reach beyond the files that it is explicitly applied to.
Additionally, all three of the ...
- 73.2k
7
votes
How can I justify my disclaimer of warranties license to a customer?
I'm a lawyer, and the clause quoted above basically says there are not warranties, so you're not responsible if the customer thinks the software causes the customer to suffer a harm that results in a ...
- 71
7
votes
Own project: Open source to closed source
As the original copyright holder and no one else holding the copyright to any portions of the project, you can choose to close-source a later version. You can also choose to change the license on ...
- 80.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Creating a private in-house application with Qt
Use of a software internally is not considered a conveyance by the GPL, so you wouldn't have to give source code to anyone.
The moment you decide to distribute your software to any third party, then ...
- 27.7k
6
votes
Is this the correct way to include this MIT licensed software in my software?
Yes, what you have done is sufficient.
The README.md states that the project is available under the MIT or Apache License 2.0. That means that you get to choose which license you use. In this case, ...
- 80.4k
6
votes
Accepted
Is modification allowed if license does not mention it?
Modifying a copyrighted work is creating a derivative work. This must be granted by the copyright holder (see here), which seems not to be the case in the license that you quote.
But attention: ...
- 75.9k
5
votes
Storing T&C acceptance in database - best practice
In case someone ends up on this post as I did, here are some a bit more up-to-date ideas in the era of GDPR :
The way I would do it is by saving the timestamp of agreement and the IP address of the ...
5
votes
Accepted
In the GNU Affero GPL, do paying customers count as the 'public'?
The text you quoted is part of the preamble, it is not part of the legally binding terms and conditions.
The relevant part is article 13, which states that you have to make the source code available ...
- 103k
5
votes
Accepted
With source code lost, can the binary be released as MIT without it?
In every jurisdiction I know, the author or copyright holder of a software can pick whatever license they like, source code available or not. And nowhere in the MIT license does the term "source code" ...
- 203k
4
votes
Accepted
Potential legal issues with lock-free / wait-free structures / algorithms
This is a very broad topic. Unfortunately there's no general answer, due to the complex matter of patentability. And in view of the existing practice of patent trolling, there is always be some legal ...
- 75.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Including GPL software in closed-code project
If you are merely distributing the executable output of the Fortran compiler, and not the compiler itself, then you're not distributing the compiler, and therefore not triggering the GPL's copyleft ...
- 199k
4
votes
Accepted
Should we include 3rd party open source licenses if only copying syntax?
Disclaimer: this is not legal advice. It's only a personal opinion from an IT professional. For legal advice you shall consult a lawyer or qualified legal expert.
Legal aspects wary very much from ...
- 75.9k
4
votes
What is wrong with the Unlicense?
Doesn't work for Google
Forbidden patches
Our general philosophy is that we do not allow patches to projects
that Google cannot use, either because of the terms of the license or
Google policy. For ...
- 181
4
votes
How to avoid accidental Copyright Infringement?
You can't "coincidentally write the same code" any more than you can coincidentally happen to write Shakespeare's Hamlet. That is, the probability's vanishingly remote. Of course, you're bound to use ...
- 821
3
votes
GPL - what is distribution?
If that is what the company wants to do, then there is a very simple method to avoid all obligations and all legal problems: Whenever you give a copy of the software to an employee, give them the ...
- 43.5k
3
votes
What license do companies use while developing software?
Note that I'm not a lawyer and this isn't legal advice. But here are some things that I have been asked to sign in the past as a contractor:
Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) - This is an agreement that ...
- 4,983
3
votes
Should I use unknown code from a third party?
From a business process standpoint you have the concept of risk:
How likely is something to go wrong?
What is the possible impact if it does go wrong?
Do you accept, mitigate, or avoid that risk?
...
- 46k
3
votes
How can a company know that I re-used some techniques?
Don't do it !
The probability that you can rightfully reuse for your own purpose some software that you wrote as employee seems extremely low:
Your employment contract might give ownership or ...
- 75.9k
3
votes
Accepted
How do I prove an app is mine?
The usual way is to show that you are the author of the source code.
Unfortunately, if all you have is your source and your goodwill, another party could come with your source and claim it’s theirs ...
- 75.9k
2
votes
How to manage copyright notices from contributors to a BSD licensed project
If there is BSD licensed source code and someone forks it adding additional patches, then this new source code in the new repo should include the exact BSD license file from the original repo and the ...
- 121
2
votes
Accepted
Can I use R via RDOTNET without having to provide the source code of my application
It depends on whether or not you're creating a derived work and triggering the copyleft provision.
In general, for your program to not trigger copyleft, it must either be a separate work, or not be ...
- 199k
2
votes
Read/Write third party SQL Server database
Correct me if I'm wrong:
Company A uses a third party software in their business
The third party software stores its data in mssql server
company A has contacted you to write some software which ...
- 72.4k
2
votes
Accepted
Is it required to credit author of software released under the MIT license?
The MIT license specifically requires you to retain the copyright holder's copyright notice.
That means YES, you must credit the original author.
- 18.1k
2
votes
Can I put all license files for different open source projects I use in my application in one folder?
All the usual disclaimers apply, but as long as you don't deliberately obfuscate or hide the licenses you should be in the clear.
According to my experience the most common practice is putting all ...
2
votes
Accepted
NDA for heavily invested Enterprise ERP Platform
The short answer: No.
The longer answer: The code of a commercial application exists for one primary reason: To make the company money.
With that in mind, it is a very bad business decision to give ...
- 73.2k
2
votes
Legality of website forking?
You don't understand the term 'forking'. It refers to open source projects where two or more groups of contributors want to take the project in different directions.
Say I submit a pull request to ...
- 72.4k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible