Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles $Revision: 1.7.0.10 $; site trsvax Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxr!mhuxt!houxm!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!convex!trsvax!gordon From: gordon@trsvax Newsgroups: net.legal Subject: Re: Is a Shareware license enforceable? Message-ID: <66200004@trsvax> Date: Mon, 23-Dec-85 22:10:00 EST Article-I.D.: trsvax.66200004 Posted: Mon Dec 23 22:10:00 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 28-Dec-85 00:53:14 EST References: <27@decwrl.UUCP> Lines: 100 Nf-ID: #R:decwrl.UUCP:27:trsvax:66200004:000:4858 Nf-From: trsvax!gordon Dec 23 21:10:00 1985 /* Written 12:39 pm Dec 16, 1985 by decwrl.UU!wasser in trsvax:net.legal */ Is a Shareware License Enforceable? ... /* End of text from trsvax:net.legal */ If you want to sell software, sell software. Don't call it shareware. "Shareware" is software that is distributed free and the author requests a donation, which is not mandatory. Calling something shareware when you intend to require a payment isn't accurate. If you spread that description around a lot, this is known as false advertising, and if someone thinks they're getting it free because of that, a judge might agree with them. Copyright your software. Do not call it "public domain". Put copyright notices in the code. It wouldn't be a bad idea to put code in so that if someone patches the object code to remove the copyright message, the software won't run. This won't stop pirates for very long, especially if you distribute source code, but it might stop a few, and it shows you are serious about protecting the copyright. Sell software, complete with a nasty, user-threatening license agreement. Spell out what customers are allowed to do with the software (for personal use only, any number of CPUs but only one at a time OR per-cpu OR something else you might think up). State a fixed price. Offer a site license to businesses at a significant discount per-cpu compared to the one-user per-cpu rate. But be nice to your customers. Offer them a 30-day money-back guaran- tee, but make them remove all copies of the program before they can get their money back. Also offer them credit: payment due in 30 days, interest and penalties start after 45 days, so they don't have to pay before they get a chance to look at the software. (Be sure you comply with the Truth in Lending require- ments, and usury laws. Also, don't try to duck sales and income taxes). You don't want to take someone to court and then have them get away with agreeing to destroy their copy of the software, so make it very explicit that after 30 days they have purchased the software and must pay for it. Include threatening clauses requiring them to pay the costs of collection. Disclaim any warranty after the 30-day period. Disclaim liability for everything ever done by anyone to anyone any time for any reason. You may not get away with this, but the fact you allow the user use of the software to determine if it's suitable may make your case a bit stronger when someone sues because it doesn't work properly with a Banana* LaserScribbler* and an Admiral* Missile Launcher in the same system. Offer your customers re-distribution licenses. A redistribution license costs, say, 90% of the software, and permits the customer to give a copy to someone else with the same terms that he got it: the right to use the software, the 30-day guarantee, the credit, and the right to buy redistribution licenses. Require that your customer pass on a copy of the license agreement. The administration of this is handled with applications for re- distribution licenses: the seller fills in his part, gives it to the buyer, who (after he's had his 30 day trial), sends it to the author with payment. The author sends the seller his 10%. The re-distribution license should specify a fixed price for sale to a new customer. Let registered users distribute updated versions of the software to other registered users who have earlier versions without charge. Say something in the license that prevents 3 or more people from giving each other 30-day money-back guarantee periods in rota- tion, without any one of them ever having the software for more than 30 days at one time. To avoid piracy, since the above scheme doesn't really let you keep track of who's got the program unless they cooperate or you find out somehow, like catch them trying to sell it, offer ser- vices worth something to registered users. Offer them low-cost, high-quality printed copies of the user manual. Offer telephone or mail support. Offer a newsletter. Offer distributions of the latest version for a nominal charge to cover the media, copying, and mailing. Usual disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, and if you intend actually following this suggestion, you should consult one. There are a lot of details that can trip you up, especially concerning consequential liability for bugs. Gordon Burditt ...!convex!ctvax!trsvax!sneaky!gordon * Banana, Admiral, and LaserScribbler are probably a trade mark of someone's. For that matter, every word in this article is probably a trademark. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone. If anyone believes that an organization can have its own opinions, independent of the individual people that make it up, I have some copyrighted swamp land about 30 miles south of Galveston Island, Texas, you might be interested in buying ...