Questions tagged [software]
For questions involving programming underlying computers and machines. Consider using the [open-source-software] tag if the question is about open source software or licensing.
665
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14 views
Intellectual Property Ownership as an Employee
I am a final-year college student entering the software industry as an engineer. My job will probably require me to write code all day for a company, using company resources and hardware (company ...
1
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1answer
39 views
Which software license to use as a software agency for my client?
Suppose that a client that wants a project (mobile app) developed and is currently discussing the contract with a developer.
The idea of the app is the client's and s/he will start a company soon, ...
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2answers
59 views
Can I sell a mobile app that contains definitions from a GPL licensed dictionary?
I am developing a mobile word game in which the word list and word definitions come from the GCIDE Dictionary. According to my research this software is released under the GNU General Public License.
...
1
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0answers
63 views
Propagation of GPLv3 licensed software
"0. Definitions" section of GPLv3 says that:
To “convey” a work means any kind of propagation that enables other parties to make or receive copies.
Is it also included to "any kind of ...
1
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1answer
42 views
In the software license BSD, what is “ Redistribution in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice…”
I'm trying to understand all the responsibilities of this license.
Does redistribution mean:
publicly placing a windows .exe using the BSD licensed library for users to download on a website(free and ...
-1
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0answers
31 views
Can software company legally limit access to personal database?
I paid and own an instance of Microsoft SQL Server. A software I license uses that database. Can that software company legally limit my access to the data stored on my database?
0
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0answers
29 views
What is the meaning of “using a file outside a project”?
On the Tatoeba download page, we can download a list of sentences that have an audio file: https://tatoeba.org/eng/downloads.
In this file, there is a license field. In the description of the file, it ...
1
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2answers
67 views
GDPR: What data am I allowed to keep after a user requests deletion?
I struggle to find an insightful article on what, specifically, I have to delete and what I don't have to delete when a user requests deletion of their data.
Some things are obvious to me: personal ...
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2answers
395 views
What are legal risks/consequences of buying cheap software licenses from ebay/aliexpress
I was disputing with one person about buying software licenses. For example, on ebay/aliexpress there are offers to buy Microsoft Office for 2 USD or Adobe PhotoShop for 3 USD. For me, it cannot be ...
2
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2answers
120 views
Buy a computer/phone from Apple, disagree to the terms of service after purchase; what's the legal perspective
My question and premise are very simple, but the legal perspectives on the answer are unclear to me.
A person purchases an Apple computer/phone product directly from Apple (any device requiring ...
1
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2answers
46 views
What avenues exist for licensing software code to one's employer while retaining the rights to use it in other projects?
Let's say someone works on personal software projects on their own time while also working for a software company. One day a situation arises such that the source code of one of these personal ...
1
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1answer
42 views
Online Service Requires 2-User Minimum Billing for Per-User Priced Product
Is this legal under Payment for Services Not Rendered if only one user account is ever used?
I'm using an online service, Hubstaff, to keep track of my time and invoice clients for the time I work on ...
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1answer
59 views
Can I add software logos in my video? [closed]
I make a video about the AR filter that I created, showing my work process. Can I add logos of the applications that I used in this video?
And is there any official source fo these logos, or can I ...
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2answers
164 views
What are the rights of the software owners if their software is used to make money?
Let's assume that I have an iPhone and
I tell how to use it (e.g. how an app is downloaded, how a photo is taken),
I mention about its functions, features (e.g. how a contact is created, how Wi-Fi is ...
0
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1answer
58 views
EULA requiring app users to surrender rights to media they didn't upload?
This seems like a silly question to me, and only a hypothetical at the moment, but I needed to ask! It's specific to United States copyright law, just to be clear.
Let's say an app author builds a ...
3
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1answer
43 views
Are there any licensing rules regarding code samples that I could include in my book?
I'm thinking to write a book where I could need to use some code samples regarding a proprietary software (SAS in particular). So my question is, should I pay something to the software owner just for ...
1
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1answer
92 views
Can the maintainers of a LGPL project use contributed code after the original contributor withdrew it and was kicked out from the community?
Suppose that out there in the web there is a project, let's call it <PROJECT NAME>, licensed under LGPL v 2.1 or, at the end user's discretion, above.
An external contributor (not officially ...
3
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2answers
563 views
Can anybody create their own software license?
For example, there's the GPL license:
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html
And I assume they made it themselves.
Can anybody create their own license? That is to say, can I for example create ...
1
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1answer
112 views
Is it legal to sell video courses on Udemy by using open source or not open source software?
I see people who sell courses about topics in the informatics sector on Udemy, such as system administration, network administration, cyber security, programming languages, etc. They use/run software ...
3
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0answers
56 views
Licensing self-written software and trademark to the company which I own
I wrote software (as a hobby) a while ago and also registered a trademark for it. I thought about trying to commercialize the software, and realized that in order to limit my risks it makes sense to ...
4
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2answers
85 views
(EU) Can a license agreement demand a specific compensation for unlicensed use of the software?
Scenario: As a software developer I create a WordPress extension that does x which I sell for, let's say, $20.
When buying it's clearly mentioned you are only allowed to install it on a single website....
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1answer
83 views
Is an employee liable if he used pirated software at work (small company)? [closed]
So I know someone who suggested a pirated software to use at work and the company honored it.. Now they are being fined by the owner of the software for 10,000 Euros.. The company told him and the ...
4
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1answer
177 views
Is it illegal for my school to install spyware onto my own laptop?
My school installed something called 'Securus XT' onto my laptop. I knew it was meant to be a safeguarding thing but I didn't know they would be able to see every single thing I do on my own laptop (...
0
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1answer
78 views
Can an API forbid caching of the data it provides?
Not sure whether this is the best place for this kind of question, happy to move it if needed.
I'm designing a web application that will make use of a (non-free) third-party API. Paying a monthly ...
0
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1answer
69 views
University and Intellectual Property: What does it means for my university to own my final year project?
Note: I have absolutely 0 experience in this type of thing.
Problem summary: I am a final year student doing my final year project. I created an innovative product (a software) as part of my research. ...
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1answer
53 views
Is requesting a customer database for testing purposes legal?
We're a company working in building industry and have a program, develeoped together with our software vendor, to create quotes and configurate products. The program uses a MS SQL database.
It stores ...
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0answers
44 views
Where in the world is decompilation and reverse engineering for security research legal?
Disclaimer: IANAL, the following is just my research up to now.
I understand that in many jurisdictions, reverse engineering - and especially decompilation of software without explicit permission from ...
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2answers
72 views
Is it enforceable to restrict publication of work created with my tool
I created a software compiler, that produces some object code from original source code, and designed processes around it such as documentation and pre-processing. I plan to sell this tool providing ...
1
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0answers
53 views
Is using proxies to circumvent rate limit to scrape data legal in India?
I'm in India, and this is what the Indian Information Act of 2000/66F says on the matter:
Indian Information Act 2000/66F
Punishment for cyber terrorism.– Whoever,– with intent to threaten the unity, ...
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2answers
135 views
What is the definition of computer virus by law?The definition seems to be broad
According to the Indian IT Act we cannot place computer virus(which includes cookies) without user permission but does that mean we need to take permission even for placing nessecary cookies?
...
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2answers
57 views
Is it legal to publish a third-party server software that allows people to host their own dedicated server for a game?
One of our favorite online games recently got all its servers shut down so that it isn't playable anymore. As a few friends and I are quite experienced at programming and reverse engineering, we have ...
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2answers
88 views
Is possible to prevent a site using my code?
I was told even when we cannot patent the code, there is a copyright or intellectual property on it. But what can we do with that? is that protecting from someone else using the code?
If yes, what are ...
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0answers
61 views
Is telling others how to crack software illegal?
There's this program from a few years ago that isn't being sold anymore, and there's a simple way to extend the free trial forever by changing the expiration date in a text file.
I was wondering if it ...
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1answer
73 views
Is putting a warning enough to make your hacking software legal? [closed]
I never wrote a license or a readme for a program.
This is my readme.txt inside the folder of the program that gets downloaded :
ATTENTION: HACKING IS ILLEGAL USE THIS AT YOUR OWN GMAIL ACCOUNTS THE ...
2
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1answer
85 views
Advertising in mobile apps and proof of consent
What does CCPA require for proof of consent to display advertising in mobile applications (vs a web site), especially for apps that do not create a user profile? Hypothetically, would it be sufficient ...
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3answers
207 views
Is it legal to publish a game that already exists but it was 100% developed by me
I am a lover of classic games and I've developed some classical games such as:
Connect 4
Monopoly
Trivial
Battleship
My main question is what will happen if I publish any of these applications in ...
1
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1answer
69 views
Is it legal to depict public government buildings in a video game?
At my business, some people are deliberating about adding public government buildings to a level in our game. There are concerns about whether this is legal. I thought for sure I played games in the ...
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3answers
2k views
Does this Intellectual Property Agreement assign the rights to IP created after employment ends?
This is an extract from a software developer Intellectual Property Agreement:
“Intellectual Property Rights”: patents, rights to Inventions, utility
models, copyright and neighboring and related ...
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2answers
78 views
Can i get sued by using a VFX in game, that are similar to Marvel`s VFX (The Avengers)?
I am developing a game and ended up creating an effect which triggers on enemy death. An enemy dissolves and spreads particles around. The end effect reminded me a bit of the movie The Avengers and ...
0
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2answers
93 views
At what point does an AI become a person?
When is a fully autonomous machine that can communicate with society and think for it self become classified as a being that can "own" property and manage others? Also, do they have certain ...
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0answers
27 views
Is it legal to use and/or share expired software that is still copyrighted ? Can people still be sued even if the company was bought or dissolved?
Some examples of expired software:
Macromedia Flash 8 : Macromedia company bought by Adobe
Electric Rain Swift 3D : Electric Rain company went down / disappeared
Is it legal to use and/or share ...
3
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1answer
92 views
When will Flash copyright expire?
It would seem Adobe will kill Flash, but not release its source code under a free license.
So, when will Macromedia Flash’s copyright expire?
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0answers
54 views
Is there a legal distinction between updating existing software and installing new software?
This is a follow up on this popular question. Microsofts EULA terms for Windows 10 clearly state that Microsoft may update their software without the users explicit consent for each update. On the ...
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1answer
61 views
Will the license I am writing hold up? [closed]
I am writing a software license for my software that I wrote and I wondering if I could take someone to court if, for example, they shared the source code.
My goal is to have a license that you can ...
31
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3answers
10k views
Is it legal for Microsoft to install software without user approval?
On several occasions, Microsoft had misled their users to forcefully install updates or unwanted programs (like Windows 10 on Windows 7 here, here, here, and here), it also has forcefully installed ...
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2answers
123 views
If a company has agreed to add my software to their catalog, are they obliged to add it within a certain time?
My software product was invited to be part of a catalog of a software company (July 2020). Once it is available in this catalog, I will get paid royalties if people use my software.
To be included, I ...
0
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2answers
53 views
Legal status of js code on web-site
Normally, every code, distributed to be run on user machines, come with a license. If you do not agree with a license, you can't run a code. Moreover, license clearly states responsibility of the ...
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0answers
64 views
How to describe your experience in your CV/Resume without breaking copyright / GDPR rules?
Are there rules (EU & US) defining how far one can go in decribing his professional experience as a software developer, and telling about the projects he worked on?
For example, if I do not ...
2
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2answers
118 views
Are there any laws around viewing the messages of the members of a site you own?
If I build a website that has a messaging feature between users, what laws are there governing my behavior as the owner of the website?
That is to say, I am the sole moderator and database ...
0
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0answers
73 views
Is it illegal for a game company to continue selling a game to all customers when it only plays on older computers?
I’ve been trying, and struggling, to get in contact with Big Fish Games regarding one of their games. I have gotten one reply from a real person, telling me that the game is only playable on Windows 7 ...
