Need a solicitor

[Kerwin]

First of all I have no experience with business and contract law so I'm not sure if this is possible for a reasonable sum of money.

I need the following documents:

* Terms of Service
* Privacy Policy
* Commercial software license

Basically I'm releasing some software under an open source license and I want people to be able to pay to use it under a different license which means that they do not have to share their code under the open source license. It will also allow them to get dedicated technical support with an SLA. I'm based in South East England so something in that area would be great.

Can someone let me know roughly what this would cost?

Edit: If you need any additional information then please let me know.

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

Hi @Kerwin ,

Give these guys a call - https://www.devant.co.uk/

They'll be able to give you an idea of cost - they have helped a number of my clients with these things - they specialise in this area and are far cheaper than your usual hourly rate solicitor!

 

[Kerwin]

Hi @Kerwin ,

Give these guys a call - https://www.devant.co.uk/

They'll be able to give you an idea of cost - they have helped a number of my clients with these things - they specialise in this area and are far cheaper than your usual hourly rate solicitor!

Thank you very much! I'll get in contact shortly.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

AFAIK, open source/GPL allows you to adjust software as you like, however, there are no obligations to then offer/share that code to anyone.

Also, under OS, you can charge for support and addons as you want.

 

[DontAsk]

AFAIK, open source/GPL allows you to adjust software as you like, however, there are no obligations to then offer/share that code to anyone.

Also, under OS, you can charge for support and addons as you want.

It all depends on the license. GPL is a bit old hat. Look into the various forms of creative commons licenses.

A lot of open source software does indeed require you to make modifications freely available.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

A lot of open source software does indeed require you to make modifications freely available.

Got any examples (I do not doubt you, but I have never come across this).

 

[Kerwin]

Got any examples (I do not doubt you, but I have never come across this).

This is the license I'm using.

GNU Affero General Public License v3.0

Permissions of this strongest copyleft license are conditioned on making available complete source code of licensed works and modifications, which include larger works using a licensed work, under the same license. Copyright and license notices must be preserved. Contributors provide an express...

choosealicense.com

Any of the "copy left" licenses require disclosure of source code under various conditions but mainly when you distribute the software to other users. Basically if you give me a program under a copy left license you have to either give me the source code along with the program or you must provide it if I request it.

 

[Kerwin]

This lists pretty much all the open source licenses and their requirements.

Licenses

Non-judgmental guidance on choosing a license for your open source project

choosealicense.com

 

[Kerwin]

It all depends on the license. GPL is a bit old hat. Look into the various forms of creative commons licenses.

A lot of open source software does indeed require you to make modifications freely available.

Just had a look at creative commons and this license seems to be the most inline with what I want.

Deed - Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International - Creative Commons

creativecommons.org

 

[Kerwin]

AFAIK, open source/GPL allows you to adjust software as you like, however, there are no obligations to then offer/share that code to anyone.

Also, under OS, you can charge for support and addons as you want.

That isn't my business model. The idea is to give free users the software under an open source license which requires them to submit changes back to the original project so that other users get the benefit of their work but if a company wants to pay for a commercial license so that they can keep their changes hidden then that will be allowed under an alternative commercial license.

In effect the software will be dual licensed. Free users have to submit changes to the original project and commercial users do not.

Edit: Commercial users can always use the free version if they don't want to pay. It is just for those who want to make private alterations and those who want official paid support.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

What happens if it is a change you do not want?

 

[Kerwin]

What happens if it is a change you do not want?

I can refuse it. It just won't get merged with the primary software. The license says they need to share it but it does not mean it needs to be accepted in the main software repository. A link to a Git repo holding the changes would be enough so I can pull in changes I want and reject changes I don't want.

 

[fisicx]

What happens if they fork and don't tell you about the changes they have made?

Interested in this fremium model with my plugins

 

[Kerwin]

What happens if they fork and don't tell you about the changes they have made?

Interested in this fremium model with my plugins

Yeah, that is the obvious problem. I believe that technically you have to request the source code but you could also say put a link in the footer or something to the source code repo if they have changed anything.

It is like most contracts though. If you don't have the resources to enforce it properly then people can fall through the net.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

technically you have to request the source code

Maybe beyond my understanding, but, if you are offering code for an online app/service/system there isn't source code, just the code.

Source code is what is compiled into a program/app, isn't it?

 

[Kerwin]

Maybe beyond my understanding, but, if you are offering code for an online app/service/system there isn't source code, just the code.

Source code is what is compiled into a program/app, isn't it?

OK. So I might not make much sense so let me know if I haven't been clear.

Programming languages come in two types: compiled and interpreted. Compiled languages take one or more source code files and convert them into a binary which is then executed on the computer. Interpreted languages take source code everytime they are run and in real time run them on the computer. Thus you need the source code of programs to run them in an interpreter but not with compiled languages.

Having said that if you want to modify either program you need the source code so you can make your own changes. The license I have chosen means that the user can download the source code from a site like Github and make any changes they want. The only requirements are that if they are a free user then they must share their changes. If they are a paid user then they can keep their changes private.

So I'll host a Git repo where anyone can download the source code and by doing so they'll need to agree to the license agreement.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

Got that, thanks.

Most of the software I have used is online based and you download the whole code and bang it on a server - WP is the perfect example of this.

 

[Kerwin]

Got that, thanks.

Most of the software I have used is online based and you download the whole code and bang it on a server - WP is the perfect example of this.

When I talk about downloading source code I mean this:

GitHub - WordPress/WordPress: WordPress, Git-ified. This repository is just a mirror of the WordPress subversion repository. Please do not send pull requests. Submit pull requests to https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop and patches to https

WordPress, Git-ified. This repository is just a mirror of the WordPress subversion repository. Please do not send pull requests. Submit pull requests to https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-devel...

github.com

The above link is the source code for Wordpress which can be downloaded by anyone using Git and that enables people to change it anyway that they like.

Edit: You can also think about non-server software like Microsoft Word or Google Chrome. They are compiled on a Windows or Mac computer and then the binaries are shared with the users.

Google Chrome is open source and thus you can download the source code and make alterations to it. Microsoft Word though is proprietary so it is impossible to change it.

 

[Paul Kelly ICHYB]

OK. Is your code php or similar for a web based service?

 

[Kerwin]

OK. Is your code php or similar for a web based service?

It is Go.

The Go Programming Language

Go is an open source programming language that makes it simple to build secure, scalable systems.

go.dev

 

[DontAsk]

What happens if they fork and don't tell you about the changes they have made?

Interested in this fremium model with my plugins

For personal use, nothing. If they then offer the original plus changes to others, then they possibly violate the license. If you find out you sue them, or whatever.

Maybe beyond my understanding, but, if you are offering code for an online app/service/system there isn't source code, just the code.

The app would be an installer or an executable, but there is always source code to build it from.

Source code is what is compiled into a program/app, isn't it?

Yes, and the clue is in the name "open source". The source code is open, even if you (as many open source projects do) offer the latest good/clean/production build as a download. The open source repository, often something based on git, could be updated at any time. The compiled version could be the latest "stable" release that has had extensive testing (or not). Some will have nightly (or even more frequent) test release with all of the latest changes.

 

[Kerwin]

For personal use, nothing. If they then offer the original plus changes to others, then they possibly violate the license. If you find out you sue them, or whatever.

This is true. But just to clarify if they only ever use the app / website / whatever themselves then the only person who needs to be given the source code is themselves. But as soon as anyone else uses the software they then have to publically share the source code and the changes.

This could be through Git, FTP, discs or any other medium.

 

[DontAsk]

This is true. But just to clarify if they only ever use the app / website / whatever themselves then the only person who needs to be given the source code is themselves. But as soon as anyone else uses the software they then have to publically share the source code and the changes.

That’s almost true. But just to clarify if A modifies it for personal use then is no issue. If A makes the modifications available to B then A must share the modified source code, not B.

 

[Kerwin]

That’s almost true. But just to clarify if A modifies it for personal use then is no issue. If A makes the modifications available to B then A must share the modified source code, not B.

Thank you!

 

[Kerwin]

Hi @Kerwin ,

Give these guys a call - https://www.devant.co.uk/

They'll be able to give you an idea of cost - they have helped a number of my clients with these things - they specialise in this area and are far cheaper than your usual hourly rate solicitor!

I emailed them on Friday but haven't heard back. I guess they are either busy or don't want the business. If there are any other options out there I would appreciate it.

 

[Frank the Insurance guy]

I emailed them on Friday but haven't heard back. I guess they are either busy or don't want the business. If there are any other options out there I would appreciate it.

Sorry to hear that - they are usually on the ball! If you can DM me your contact details, I am happy to make a formal introduction.