What is the software licensing model?

IPP Codecs Plug-in uses a "dual licensing" business model. Under this model, users may choose to use IPP Codecs Plug-in products under the free software/open source GNU General Public License (commonly known as the "GPL") or under a commercial license.

With the GPL license, IPP Codecs Plug-in is available free of charge, as long as the use of IPP Codecs Plug-in adheres to the terms of GPL license. Users may download the software for free and modify, integrate and distribute it. However, GPL users must abide by the rules of the GPL, which stipulate that if an IPP Codecs Plug-in-based application is redistributed, the complete source code for this application must also be open and available for redistribution.

Stonevoice (http://www.stonevoice.com) offers a commercial license to allow users to include the IPP Codec Plug-in their commercial products/projects and generate revenue from this. The license fee only covers the use of the IPP Codec Plug-in for OPAL code "as is" for commercial purposes - it does not include any consulting, support or integration services. All customers will be able to test the IPP codec by using the Open Source code from Source Forge before purchasing. Development, integration and support are NOT included and can be requested separately .

IPP Codecs Plug-in's dual licensing increases freedom in two ways: first, it encourages the growth of free software by licensing IPP Codecs Plug-in under the GPL; second, it makes it possible to use our software in situations where the GPL is not applicable.

How do I know which license to use?

The overall guiding business principle of IPP Codecs Plug-in's dual licensing is one of fair exchange or "Quid pro Quo" which means "something for something."

So if you use IPP Codecs Plug-in with GPL-licensed software (or a license that is GPL-compatible) we encourage you to use the GPL license. For all other users of IPP Codecs Plug-in, we recommend that you purchase an IPP Codecs Plug-in commercial license.

Do I get the same software under either license?

Yes. The IPP Codecs Plug-in product is essentially identical under either the GPL license or the commercial license. In some cases there are minor differences in the support libraries due to incompatibilities between the licenses of the libraries and IPP Codecs Plug-in.

Haw are contributions handled?

As the IPP Codecs Plug-in is Open Source, anyone can contribute. However, as with offerings like MySQL, due to our dual licensing we require that contributors assign copyright to the original authors. The contributors licensing agreement can be viewed here.

What is the FOSS License Exception to the GPL?

The FOSS License Exception enables open source developers who are using Free and Open Source software ("FOSS") licenses other than the GPL to include the IPP Codecs Plug-in client libraries. Since some licenses are incompatible with the GPL this exception provides flexibility for open source developers. We want to support the open source community in their desire to use the IPP Codecs Plug-in client libraries in a broad range of open source projects.

What is the policy on software patents?

We do not think that software patents are a useful way to protect software IP. Instead, we believe that copyright protection is sufficient. We have concluded that software patents are harmful to the software industry at large. This is why we support those who work for an abolishment of software patents. We also work with other companies and groups to build a joint defense against software patents.

Version 1.2, 27 February 2008