[ale] First Steps to Licensing My Software?

[Michael B. Trausch]

On Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:32:24 -0500
Marc Ferguson <marcferguson at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm a PHP Web developer and I'm working on a web application used in
> the medical industry.  I have a client and I'm building the
> application for them, but I've realized that I can actually market
> this app and possibly make a profit from it.  I would need to
> redevelop the app (knowing what I know now), but I don't know how to
> go about licensing this PHP/MySQL application.

First things first, if you are going to be redeveloping something that
you have already written for someone else, you'll need to make sure
that you:

  (a) Do not have a copy of the source for the other person,
  (b) Separate yourself from that other program, both in distance and
      in time,
  (c) Start writing it, from scratch, and make different decisions on
      various things so as to change the architecture of the new
      software.

For item (c) especially (which is probably the _most_ important),
you'll want to read GNU's document on writing new software based on the
functionality of existing software:

  http://is.gd/gmfB

Which contains some pointers on how to legally protect your new
software.

> I've heard of GPL, but I also know there are different flavors.  Can
> anyone point me into the right direction so I can actually own all
> this work I'm doing.  Thanks.

If you want to create a Web application which must be "distributed"
with source code, you may want to take a look at the Affero GPL:

  http://is.gd/1e6O

The Affero GPL (AGPL for short) requires that Web applications provide
a link to their source code for download so that other people can use
that software on their own Web servers if they so desire.  It's a
different approach to the GPL, and necessary for Web applications to be
free software in the way that classic local binary applications are
free software (since technically, only the front-end for a Web
application is ever distributed).

	--- Mike

-- 
My sigfile ran away and is on hiatus.
http://www.trausch.us/
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