Hesk copyright removal license

[Ben Tilly]

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 6:47 PM, Jeff Hanson <jhansonxi at gmail.com> wrote:
> Came across a strange license today and wanted to know if it makes any
> legal sense at all.  I found this via spam to the
> comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine usenet group:
> http://groups.google.com/group/comp.emulators.ms-windows.wine/browse_thread/thread/bd3928561dd5297e?hl=en
>
> It leads to a blog that advertises applications based on PHP scripts
> from PHPJunkyard.  The help desk one is named "Hesk" that uses MySQL:
> http://www.phpjunkyard.com/free-helpdesk-software.php
>
> I haven't tried them as I don't have a need.  What I found interesting
> are the license terms.  The author has a "free to use" license that
> requires copyright notices/links in displayed pages but they can be
> removed for a fee.  It reads like an open source adware license.
>
The restriction saying that you must obtain permission before
redistributing makes it not open source.  I am not a lawyer, but my
understanding is that not making his indemnification ALL CAPS means
that he might not be protected in the event of a lawsuit.

The idea of offering code under a free license and then granting
additional permissions for a fee is not a new one.  The most
successful company to do that was Sleepycat with Berkeley DB.  They
got bought out by Oracle which I believe still markets the same
product with the same strategy.  I've not heard it used before for
shareware though.

Cheers,
Ben