[asterisk-users] Licensing question.

[Raj Mathur ( राज माथुर )]

On Wednesday 09 Nov 2011, Yaroslav Panych wrote:
> I shall contact when(and if) decision will be made. But such decision
> cannot be made basing only on this paragraph, because it does not
> describes anything. There are no description of licensing procedure,
> nor pricing, nor liability, rights or freedoms(at least in general
> approximation) of sides. So I'm here asking and asking again.
> In any case, even usage of GPL-ed copy of Asterisk(or any other
> software) is illegal in my country.

If I understand your situation correctly, the solution is very simple 
and two-fold:

1. You want to develop and distribute FOSS (Free and Open-Source 
Software) extensions for Asterisk.  These extensions may be modules or 
enhancements.

In this situation, just go ahead and develop the extensions and 
distribute them under GPLv2.

2. You want to develop and distribute extensions for Asterisk but don't 
want to release their source.

In this situation, get a source code licence from Digium (or whoever has 
Asterisk source copyright) under a non-GPLv2 licence.  Develop and 
release your extensions under a proprietary licence.  You have no 
obligation to release their source, since your extensions are derived 
from a non-GPL licence.  Of course, Digium (or whoever) will impose 
conditions on your use of the source they license to you, but that is 
between you and Digium (or whoever) and doesn't concern anyone else.

This is obviously very generalised and doesn't cover all cases, but it 
does cover the basic dual-licensing policy.

I am not a lawyer.  This is not legal advice.  In fact, as others have 
also stated, it is highly recommended you consult with a lawyer who is 
well-versed in licensing and specially FOSS licensing.

Regards,

-- Raj
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Raj Mathur                          || raju at kandalaya.org   || GPG:
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