Menu
say a company is using Open source libraries, or programs, and packaging it into a proprietary solution. or perhaps, the engineers have copy pasted certain section of those open source libraries and have compiled it now, into a very useful "proprietary" software suite.
what legal troubles will this company face if any ? are you allowed to do this ? i mean the customer doesn't see the source codes, only runs the binary files on their computer.
for example, i find an excellent NLP library in python, and decide to use it in my program that i am selling for $4000 USD (i write like 10 lines of code and let the library do the work). could i get into trouble ? would i need to write the NLP library myself from scratch to be considered "proprietary" ?
964
If software is proprietary, it means its source code is kept secret. The source code reveals how the product works, so by concealing it, developers prevent users from tampering with the product and competitors from stealing the ideas behind the source code and using it as inspiration for their own products.
In closed-source, or proprietary, software development, only the object code is published; the source code is held secret in order to control customers and markets. Open-source projects reject this practice and publish all their source code on the Internet under licenses that allow free redistribution.
Closed-source software (proprietary software) is software whose author owns all rights to use, modify, and copy it. Software products that do not meet the requirements for open-source software are generally categorized as closed-source software.
Proprietary software is any software that is copyrighted and bears limits against use, distribution and modification that are imposed by its publisher, vendor or developer. Proprietary software remains the property of its owner/creator and is used by end-users/organizations under predefined conditions.
It depends entirely on the License. If the code is licensed under the GPL, the GPL carries a legal requirement that any code statically combined (ie, compiled with) GPL code must also be GPL. The Lesser GPL (LGPL) allows for dynamic linking. Of course, the GPLs restrictions don't kick in until you distribute the product, which includes binary form.
If it's the BSD license, then you really have no requirement to do anything once you've taken the code. The BSD license serves more to indemnify the creator of damages than restrict use of the code.
And then, there is a large spectrum of licenses in between the above extremes.
If you're thinking about using any Open Source code in a proprietary project, I'd consult a lawyer first. They may not always get it right, but they should be able to help.
70
If you love us? You can donate to us via Paypal or buy me a coffee so we can maintain and grow! Thank you!
Donate Us With
