Intellectual Property Disclosure Questions (Licensing, Copyright, etc.)

[robcull]

Hello all, I need some guidance on the licensing and usage guidelines attached to using Autoit to develop software.

I am an undergrad Electrical Engineering student at Drexel University, and I am using autoit to develop a portion of the software for my senior design project. A part of the process is dealing with IP (Intellectual Property) issues. We have to consider two angles of the IP for the product (device+software package)- as the sort of educational R&D project that it currently is, and looking to the future if/when it becomes a patented commercially available product, sold for profit. First, I'll describe in brief what I'm using autoit for:

-GUI for user/customer to control/interface to the device with

-Basic file/string manipulation (maybe some of the file/string UDFs)

-Sending/receiving commands to a separate (non-autoit) API to communicate with the device (likely using command prompt controls)

-Possibly the Microsoft Excel UDFs

-Maybe more...

I have a form that I am filling out for drexel which I am not certain how to answer. I read the EULA, which pretty clearly and concisely says what I can/can't do (and everything I want to do is allowed- I think). However, I can't risk screwing this up. When autoit used to be under the GPL license, this would have been easy, but now I'm unclear as to how autoit's license is classified. Here's the big question from the form that I'm stuck on:

"8a. Does the software derive from or include any code (freeware, open source, commercial code, etc.) that is now publicly available? This includes code developed by you or any other entity. If so, please describe and list associated license information (GPL, MIT etc.)."

If I write with autoit, do I have to list autoit as "included/derived code?"

Is it any different for the UDFs in the install library (i.e. anything that starts with an underscore- _array, _filewritetoline, etc)?

I know autoit is freeware, but what would the "associated license information" for it be?

What about the Autoit Icons?

(Insert other questions which I don't know I should be asking)

Any and all help, information, pointers, guidance is greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Rob

[Melba23]

robcull,

I am not a lawyer, but here is my take:

If I write with autoit, do I have to list autoit as "included/derived code?

As the interpreter is required to run the code (whether compiled or not), I would say that the answer is "Yes".

what would the "associated license information" for it be?

The EULA as included with the install - which allows you to do anything you like with the code you write. Similarly, you can use any of the standard includes that are installed with AutoIt. As to code you find on the forum, most of it is free to use - only a very few people have attached licenses to their posted efforts and this is always clearly marked.

In all cases common courtesy suggests that credit should be given to the original authors if you use all (or most) of a substantial UDF, but other than that you are clear to use anything here. Although if the end product does become "a patented commercially available product, sold for profit" a suitable donation to help Jon with server costs might be considered appropriate - and would always be welcome.

I hope that helps.

M23

[czardas]

License