35

There is a lot of open source engines and software with different licences conditions. Most of them are non-free for commercial use.

The question is what does "commercial use" exactly mean?

Example: I have site where I propose paid service or software. I want to create blog or wiki section on it. I download appropriated open source projects and deploy on my web site. Is it "commersial use" as I will not earn money on these engines but on the services I propose?

John Saunders
  • 160,644
  • 26
  • 247
  • 397
sashaeve
  • 9,387
  • 10
  • 48
  • 61
  • It was a lot easier in the good old times, where .com was for the commercial sites, .org for the non-profit and .gov/.mil for the biggest money sinks. :P – MSalters Nov 02 '09 at 12:17
  • 9
    I seriously doubt that statement: "Most of them are non-free for commercial use". Very few real open source projects have such a clause. – Joachim Sauer Nov 02 '09 at 12:19
  • I can not agree with you because the real good open source almost always are non-free for commercial use. For example look here - http://www.screwturn.eu/Commercial.ashx, 5000 euro for unlimited use. It's crasy... – sashaeve Nov 02 '09 at 12:26
  • For a counterexample, sash, look at Mediawiki. – Amber Nov 02 '09 at 13:05
  • 6
    I strongly disagree with "Most of them are non-free for commercial use" too. Such a restriction is incompatible with all the major licenses — GPL, BSD, MIT, Mozilla, LGPL, etc. – ShreevatsaR Nov 02 '09 at 13:36
  • 2
    The comment about ScrewTurn Wiki misinterprets their license. It's released as GPLv2, and if that license isn't what you want, then you also have the option of purchasing a commercial license. There's nothing in the GPL which prohibits commercial use, though. – uckelman Nov 02 '09 at 13:47
  • 1
    In fact, the GPL (any version) doesn't even _cover_ use. It's a distribution license. – MSalters Nov 02 '09 at 14:04
  • See also on SU: [Non-commercial use - can I use it in the office?](http://superuser.com/q/656156/151741) – unor Oct 09 '13 at 05:35
  • 4
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it is about licensing and legal issues, not programming or software development. [See here](http://meta.stackoverflow.com/a/274964/1402846) for details, and the [help/on-topic] for more. – Pang Jun 14 '15 at 05:58
  • @JoachimSauer If a software say that it is "free for personal and commercial use". Does it mean I can resell or redistribute the software? – Umair Jul 16 '22 at 10:17
  • 1
    @Umair: I'm not a lawyer and what you quoted is not a full license. For a real answer, you'd need to ask a legal professional and show the full context (where do you plan to use it for what and what does the license look like). But given just that sentence and no additional restrictions, I would interpret it as yes, you can. – Joachim Sauer Jul 16 '22 at 10:44

4 Answers4

22

"Commercial use" in cases like this is actually just a shorthand to indicate that the product is dual-licensed under both an open source and a traditional paid-for commercial license.

Any "true" open source license will not discriminate against commercial use. (See clause 6 of the Open Source Definition.) However, open source licenses like the GPL contain clauses that are incompatible with most companies' approach to commercial software (since the GPL requires that you make your source code available if you incorporate GPL'ed code into your product).

Duel-licensing is a way to accommodate this and also provides a revenue stream for the company providing the software. For users that don't mind the restrictions of the GPL and don't need support, the product is available under an open source license. For users for whom the GPL's restrictions would be incompatible with their business model, and for users that do need support, a commercial license is available.

You gave the specific example of the Screwturn wiki, which is dual-licensed under the GPL and a commercial license. Under the terms of the GPL (i.e., without getting a "commercial" license), you can do the following:

  • Use it internally as much as you want (see here)
  • Run it on your internal servers for external users / clients / customers, or run it on your internal servers for paying clients if you're an ISP / hosting provider. (If Screwturn were licensed under the AGPL instead of the GPL, that might restrict this.)
  • Distribute it to others, either free of charge or for a payment that covers the shipping, as long as you're willing to also distribute the source code
  • Incorporate it into your product, as long as you're willing to also distribute the source code, and as long as either (a) it remains a separate program that you merely aggregate with your product or (b) you release the source code to your product under an open source license compatible with the GPL

In other words, there's a lot that you can do without getting a commercial license. This is especially true for web-based software, since people can use web-based software without it being distributed to them. Screwturn's web site even acknowledges this: they state that the commercial license is for "either integrating it in a commercial application, or using it in an enterprise environment where free software is not allowed," not for any use related to commerce.

All of the preceding is merely my understanding and is not intended to be legal advice. Consult your lawyer to be certain.

Josh Kelley
  • 56,064
  • 19
  • 146
  • 246
  • If a software say that it is "free for personal and commercial use". Does it mean I can resell or redistribute the software? – Umair Jul 16 '22 at 10:18
  • @Umair You'd have to read the full license agreement to know for certain; I'm not a lawyer. I expect that redistribution would be okay; resale may depend on licensing specifics. (And keep in mind that, if it's free, the end user doesn't have to buy it from you.) – Josh Kelley Jul 16 '22 at 18:34
8

If the usage of something is part of the process of you making money, then it's generally considered a commercial use. If the purpose of the site is to, through some means or another, directly or indirectly, make you money, then it's probably commercial use.

If, on the other hand, something is merely incidental (not part of the process of production/working, but instead simply tacked on to the side), there are potential grounds for it not to be considered commercial use.

Amber
  • 507,862
  • 82
  • 626
  • 550
  • 14
    If i'm listening to the music with something like winamp while i'm programming on my job, is it commercial use of that program? – x2. Nov 02 '09 at 12:06
  • No, because you can listen to music even when not doing a job ;) – Vladislav Rastrusny Nov 02 '09 at 12:17
  • x2: great question, I think the issue is not so straight-forward as it may seem (although by intuition the answer may seem to be "of course not"). – simon Nov 02 '09 at 12:33
  • @x2: I would say yes, that is commercial use. It would help if it wasn't installed on your work machine – Michael Haren Nov 02 '09 at 13:46
  • @x2: Very much dependent on your jurisdiction. In some countries, your employer would be responsible for paying additional rights, even if you had legally obtained the music yourself. That is exactly because it's considered commercial use. (Now that's one of the reasons why Belgium is a word best left to serious plays) – MSalters Nov 02 '09 at 14:07
8

Fundamentally if you use it as part of a business then its commercial use - so its not a matter of whether the tools are directly generating income or not rather one of if they are being used in support of income generation directly or indirectly.

To take your specific example, if the purpose of the site is to sell or promote your paid services/product then its a commercial enterprise.

Murph
  • 9,985
  • 2
  • 26
  • 41
1

I suggest this discriminative question:

Is the open-source tool necessary in your process of making money?

  • a blog engine on your commercial web site is necessary: commercial use.
  • winamp for listening to music is not necessary: non-commercial use.
mouviciel
  • 66,855
  • 13
  • 106
  • 140
  • 1
    I am using git for my personal and company projects. For example all people in company use VS git plugin or TortoiseGit...But I personally prefer to use for example SmartGit (for any project). Is it personal use? I also can use tortoise git... So I do not need SmartGit but "I want to listen music". – Maxim Jul 06 '14 at 12:40
  • "Necessary" is a very vague term. When would a "blog engine" be "necessary" to make money? – Damien Golding Jun 21 '18 at 05:17
  • @DamienGolding - I mean that if you are able to make money without it , it is not necessary, or needed, or required. – mouviciel Jun 21 '18 at 05:44
  • 2
    @mouviciel My point being is that "necessary" is hard to judge. It may increase the amount of income, but not be needed to get income. The same then could be said about "winamp for listening to music" improving production. – Damien Golding Jun 21 '18 at 06:16