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.
-2
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1answer
41 views
Rubik's cube image rights EU court decision
In February 2016, I have asked a question (Rubik's cube image rights) regarding image rights of Rubik's Cube. In short - I have developed an Android application allowing user to solve Rubik's Cube,...
1
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2answers
68 views
Why is Software Piracy Considered Theft?
I know the question sounds mundane and perhaps even silly at first glance, but, consider it for a moment.
Our qualm with piracy seems to be premised with some notion of loss at the owners/business' ...
1
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0answers
46 views
Are there any examples of selling unsealed videogame as “new” being illegal?
Contest: over the years, a mayor videogame reseller company that operates in many countries worldwide has made a practice to unwrap the games it sells, putting only an empty box on display. When you ...
2
votes
1answer
43 views
Can I use my own Open Source code in commercial software I'm writing?
If I release some code that I wrote myself with an Open Source license (a WordPress plugin with the GPL2 license, https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html), can I then use my own code in commercial ...
2
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1answer
53 views
Is making a home music server legal?
I am planning to make a Local-Area-Network personal music server program.
The idea is that the program lets you host your music so you can stream it from any of your devices on your local network (...
2
votes
1answer
24 views
Websites using GPL-licensed libraries
If a customer of yours pays you to develop a website (not to buy it, so he doesn't receive a copy of the software), the website uses GPL libraries or frameworks, and the site is installed in a server ...
1
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1answer
32 views
Closed-source licence that limits liability and warranty [closed]
Is there any software licence that I can freely grab that only limits my liability while not additionally allowing any distribution and have other open-source permissions? Since what I understand is ...
0
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0answers
32 views
Is it legit to use Custom Controller Buttons in Games?
I'm making buttons for my own controller in my Game. For example, the attached images will appear to indicate the player to press the A or B Buttons. The image resembles Xbox Controller Buttons. So, ...
-1
votes
1answer
52 views
Does binary code need legal protection?
Firstly, sorry if this is not the right tag.
I have recently come in contact with a person through social media and we are discussing a business opportunity.
This person is working in networking and ...
3
votes
2answers
43 views
Is it legal for manufacturers to lock bootloaders on Android phones?
Some backgroud :
A bootloader is a very low level piece of software that runs first and loads an operating system of some other tool. On a lot of new Android devices the bootloader is "locked", that ...
1
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1answer
31 views
Legal Strategy for Protecting IP
I have done substantial work on some software that I plan to continue to develop and improve during the course of my next employment. The contract has something to the effect of
All code created ...
3
votes
2answers
46 views
Is there a need for a license agreement when two programmers want to join forces on a common side project?
Recently me and an acquaintance have been talking about working together on a side project. I know he operates his own LLC and probably wants to release the side project under the LLC which is fine. ...
1
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0answers
44 views
Do licence terms of Microsoft Visual Studio Community allow me to distribute applications developped with it?
From the licence terms ofMicrosoft Visual Studio Community:
Individual License. If you are an individual working on your own applications to sell or for any other purpose, you may use the software ...
1
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3answers
75 views
What about if a company use the information that you shared during interview
I am a software engineer in Germany, I had an issue and i don't know how to react:
Several weeks ago i had a job interview with a recently founded startup; I met with a co-founder of startup and we ...
1
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2answers
70 views
Legality of reverse engineering when licensing code stops working and the author is deceased?
There is a piece of software floating around there called ASIO Link Pro, but apparently (and sadly) the author of that software has passed away.
(https://www.reddit.com/r/obs/comments/7ffn5f/...
2
votes
0answers
99 views
Carelessly used Visual Studio Preview to develop an app that I'd like to release; what are my options?
A game. It started as an academic project, though I've always intended to release it (for free) at some point.
I checked the licence terms of Visual Studio 2017 Community. Happy, happy, joy joy:
...
1
vote
3answers
72 views
When does software copyright expire on defunct products (i.e. Lotus 1-2-3)
There are a lot of people still using "defunct" software such as Lotus 1-2-3 and Lotus Organizer. We also use existing software today that will be cancelled in the near future but may still have ...
2
votes
0answers
21 views
Defective software update instructions irreparably breaks product. Do any UK consumer or product liability laws apply?
Note - I'm not asking legal advice. I already have a basis of claim in my actual case. But the case prompted a question mark over an apparent loophole in UK consumer protection/product liability law, ...
1
vote
2answers
58 views
Can creating a web scraper be illegal? [duplicate]
Let me start with specifying that I'm not asking about the act of web scraping itself, neither the use of the data obtained through that method.
What I'm asking exactly in simple terms:
Can I be ...
1
vote
1answer
18 views
Re-Releasing, Re-Naming and Re-Writing Open Source GNU V3 Licensed software
MAIN QUESTION SUMMARY:
Can someone with real world experience, who has actually Modified, Re-Wrote, Re-Released and Re-Named Open Source GNU V3 Licensed software; please share their experience on the ...
1
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0answers
40 views
Is it legal to crawl the internet and use content to inform ML models?
This is largely what Google (et al.) do -- crawling the web and informing models as to the associations between various things.
Copyright appears to mostly pertain to reproduction, which Google and ...
0
votes
0answers
45 views
Java SE 11 New commercial license
Oracle has changed the commercial license since Java SE 11, as I understand. Does this impact products created using Java. For example I have a program written in Java I plan to sell. Also is it the ...
0
votes
1answer
21 views
Do I have to link to the glyphicon website?
The Bootstrap homepage states :
Glyphicons Halflings are normally not available for free, but their creator has made them available for Bootstrap free of cost. As a thank you, we only ask that you ...
0
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0answers
18 views
JetBrains Student Licenses - OSS allowed?
According to this question(and the license agreement) :
Am I allowed to use a students license for my Bachelor Thesis at work?
I may not use JetBrains IDE's which I have access to using an "...
0
votes
2answers
68 views
Does a EULA protect the developer [closed]
I have a simple question...If a client asks a developer to develop a penetration testing / security related software and that he is ready to accept the EULA which comes with the software...does that ...
1
vote
1answer
28 views
Which regions trademark has precedence in Google Play and Apple's app store?
If two different entities have registered the same trademark in different regions, one in the USA and the other in EU. Which of the two trademarks would have precedence within the Google Play Store ...
-1
votes
1answer
14 views
When does an improvement patent require (or not require if that's easier) a license from the holder of the original patent?
first post here! I was curious when an improvement patent requires a licensing agreement with the holder of the original patent? I did some preliminary research, but everything I can find online is ...
0
votes
1answer
24 views
United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO)
if I used United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) for my game name and publish google play store then in this world no one can use my name to publish both App Store and google play or ...
2
votes
2answers
948 views
Can I use non-commercial software for a project that may earn money in the future?
I am using syntevo's SmartGit software for hobbyist projects, which falls under their non-commercial license so I can use the tool for free:
3.2.1 If a SOFTWARE Non-Commercial License is agreed-...
-1
votes
1answer
30 views
Key elements of software engineering NDA
Everyone knows what an NDA is at a high level, a contract preventing one party from disclosing information deemed confidential by the other party. However, I am interested in how to write an NDA from ...
1
vote
1answer
66 views
Can an employer steal intellectual property?
Say someone wrote some software PRIOR to employment at the company where they currently work.
They presented it to a CEO and three other high level employees of the company. They expressed, what the ...
1
vote
3answers
85 views
Forced to sign NDA or no notice period [closed]
Context: I currently live in India and working remotely as a Software Engineer for a Dutch company since August 2018. I have got a residence permit for the Netherlands starting next month and was ...
3
votes
2answers
131 views
Responsibility of Microsoft for a bug in MS Excel
Our company is using a licensed version of Microsoft Products, including MS Excel 2016. We suffered some financial damage because of incorrect financial calculations, that occurred as a result of the ...
1
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2answers
89 views
Is peer-to-peer drug dealing illegal for the developer?
If a developer were to develop a distributed web app which essentially connected drug dealers to clients in the physical world, what would the legal ramifications be for the developer?
Details
...
0
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2answers
127 views
How can it be legal to buy and sell zero-day exploits in the US? [duplicate]
There are companies like Zerodium (Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zerodium) that buy "functional exploits" and sell them to "corporate and government clients". These are zero-day ...
20
votes
4answers
9k views
Using private software at work
Lets assume there is a piece of software I would love to use while programming at work. My company will not buy it (or it will take months before it goes through bureaucratic wall).
My question is - ...
1
vote
2answers
95 views
Can I get in trouble for making a malware? [duplicate]
I'm making a malware software in my final thesis at the university. I won't use it ever, and it was made by educational and scientific purposes only. But my university will publish it, giving the ...
1
vote
2answers
47 views
What can individual programmers do to limit their liability risks from programs that they make available to the public?
This questions stems from my earlier question, Do individual programmers expose themselves to liability risks when they make their programs available to the public?. From the answers to the above ...
1
vote
1answer
32 views
Closed Source License with No Liability?
I’m writing a closed source program with a small group of people. We will be distributing it without the code, but I’m worried about two things:
If my program deletes the user’s files or causes any ...
3
votes
3answers
124 views
Can copying simple general code cause copyright infringement? And is it even possible to avoid that?
Imagine that during writing software for the employer, I created simple helper function
IsPositiveNumber(x) which returns true if x > 0 and false otherwise.
Or function TrimBlanks(text) which returns ...
1
vote
1answer
49 views
can we legally use the source code of customer software without asking them?
My question is
can we use the source code of the software that we made for previous customer and we use that source code again legally without his permission?
can he take any legal action ?
2
votes
1answer
61 views
Do individual programmers expose themselves to liability risks when they make their programs available to the public?
There are numerous useful apps, software programs, web applications, browser plug-ins, etc., that have been produced by individual programmers. Are these programmers exposing themselves to personal ...
1
vote
1answer
36 views
Does software API copyrightability extend across programming languages?
I was initially going to post this on softwareengineering.stackexchange but after some research I believe this might be more on topic here.
I was recently faced with the problem of needing an open ...
1
vote
2answers
100 views
Is it a crime if someone inserts ads inside an existing software?
If you search on Internet, you would be able to find apps that are modified to insert code that shows ads here and there. For example, you can take the official WhatsApp Android APK and insert code to ...
0
votes
2answers
57 views
Can they license me if I already bought the product?
I'm thinking software. If I bought an application, in full, in a retail store. Then I go to install the product, and they tell me I need to accept their license. Can they do that? Even though I ...
1
vote
1answer
53 views
Redistribution of system similar to the one commissioned (privately) by a client
The short: my company have been paid to develop a software system for a client. There are (sort of) similar systems on the market already, there is currently a lot of demand for it, I want to ...
7
votes
2answers
2k views
What to do after an employee leaked our algorithm?
One of my company's internally developed algorithms was published online. It's a complex algorithm that took years to develop, I have a pretty good idea of which employee leaked it based on the team ...
0
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0answers
45 views
Modifying Open Source System Files to Cheat
I am asking this question primarily as a follow up to this question: Is creating and selling "cheats" or "hacks" for games illegal?
The consensus in that question seems that it is ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
Iran Technology Sanction
Is there any comprehensive list of Iran technology sanctions and the reason they were imposed(especially related to software products and scientific data sets?)
As I remember, some software products ...
0
votes
3answers
65 views
Can i create a software which can store doctor prescription?
I have developed a software which can store doctors prescription digitally. wondering if there would any legal complications on it. Any laws preventing that sort of software/practice in united states. ...
