Question

1. You will play the role of a paralegal in a software development company. You have been given the task of recommending the type of license agreement that should be used for your company’s new software product line. Consider all types of license agreements in making the recommendation. The software delivery method should also be considered.

Answer 1

The software license is an agreement between the product owner and the users and will define how the software product can be used. There are several types of licenses available :

- GPL license - the General public license allows anyone to use and modify the code without any restrictions. This could undermine the quality of work if the modified is not an expert in the field. Also, this can leave the public domain code open to be used in other products which can then become its own competition. This type of license does not look at monetising the product and so is not advisable for our product.

- MIT Software license - is a free permissive license that allows anyone to use, modify and re-sell the code as long as they include the original terms of the license. This allows the software to retain its proprietary nature but no control over its reuse or modification or resale. This license is therefore not suitable for our product.

- Creative commons licensing - is used by creators to identify which rights they reserve and which they waive for the users/other creators. This is used mainly when product owners do not seek commercial gain from their software and so is not the right license for our product.

The only license that would be suitable for our product is the Proprietary license.  

- A Proprietary license is best suited as this is the most restricted type of license and does not allow the code to be modified in any way, or distributed without express permission from the product owner. This retains the copyrights only with the developing company ensuring there is no misuse of the code or product. And the product can be monetised by making it open for sale to users, which also would be under the company's control (which countries etc.).

Assuming the software product is a game app, the delivery system could be one of the online stores such as Galaxy store or Google Play store for e.g. In this case, licensing agreements around distribution will need to be worked out around a) site - e.g. downloads available only in Play store or only in certain countries, b) volume - license can cover limited or unlimited download options, e.g. Hay Day can be downloaded onto a phone or a tablet as long as the same user id/email is used. If the product is an audio/video streaming app, it should also include aspects such as c) OEM - Original equipment manufacturer license is to ensure the app is accessible only on one type of platform also owned by/in partnership with the product manufacturer e.g. iTunes restricted to be played only on iPhones, d) concurrent use - Netflix offers the option of multiple screens usage, allowing several users to access the same account at the same time.