Licensing question

[Gwyn Murray]

As others have noted, what you are proposing would not be an OSI-approved license.  In general, I vote for going with an existing OSI- approved license.  Thinking about your basic motives and why you believe open-sourcing is relevant/ important to you and/or your product is the important first step.  

But, if your business plan really is fundamentally different, and you want to try for something else, I and/or other licensing lawyers can help.

Gwyn


On Feb 25, 2010, at 8:05 PM, Mahesh T. Pai wrote:

> Clayton Dukes said on Thu, Feb 25, 2010 at 10:07:48PM -0500,:
> 
>> 1. I want to allow smaller companies, say less than 50 employees, use
>> my software free of charge.
>> 2. Larger companies will pay a licensing fee (based on the size of the company).
> 
> Not free. You cannot discriminate between users. 
> 
>> 3. Any modifications/bug fixes should be shared back.
> 
> Not free again. 
> 
>> 4. Users cannot use my code in a commercial product without my
>> permission.
> 
> Not free. You cannot restrict users from using your software the way
> they like.
> 
>> Can you recommend a license that fits this ideology?
> 
> You need a lawyer. 
> 
>> Also note (not sure if it's important?)
>> My software is written using other open source programs, such as PHP -
>> does this affect my license?
> 
> 
> Depends on the specific license and how your software works. As said,
> you a lawyer.
> 
> -- 
> Mahesh T. Pai   ||  http://[paivakil|fizzard].blogspot.com
> End Users are just friends who haven't submitted a patch yet.
>