License is now unsuitable for commercial use is that the intent? about legacy-mindmup HOT 4 CLOSED

The license prohibits creating a publicly accessible system that replicates MindMup.com - it has nothing to say about it being free or commercial. You're more than welcome to use the code for commercial purposes as long as what you do does not replicate the core service and interface of MindMup.com.

The reason for this is that we caught a spammer cloning the service and trying to get google drive users to go there instead of coming to MindMup.com, and there was nothing in the license that prohibited that kind of behaviour. Now we have a legal way of blocking that kind of abuse.

You can still run a local clone of MindMup.com in your company or for a closed group, or repurpose the code in your service that does not compete with us.

from legacy-mindmup.

Dear Gojko,

Thank you for this explanation.

Although I am not an expert on intellectual property I do have some knowledge and I think that you have taken the wrong approach to protecting your intellectual property.

The Open Source business model is typically free code to which anyone can contribute that is distributed with an MIT license or LGPL license and paid support. The idea is that other enterprises will use your code and then sign up for a paid support. The most famous example of this is Red Hat linux.

This then causes the “problem” of people using “your” code (actually community code) in ways you do not like. Red Hat has to cope with CENTOS which is a free redistribution of the open source code. The way Red Hat ® protect their intellectual property is by trademarking. I note that this has not harmed their business.

Other approaches are to create a commercial fork (closed source) or a commercial service. Postgresql has this approach.

On the purely practical side since as a start-up (like me!) you probably cannot afford to enforce your license in the courts and since you wrote it yourself it is probably wrong. You would be better moving to trademark, copyright and design right protections like Redhat.

Conclusion

Moving away from MIT License has no commercial benefit to MindMup and severely damage the prospect of commercial engagement and subsequent support contracts.

Recommendations

· Restore MIT licensing and add these lines

o Copyright note not forming part of this license: MindMup™ and the visual appearance of MindMup.com and its successors and alternates are the exclusive intellectual property of and are protected by trademark, copyright and design rights. They may not be reproduced without our permission.

· Mark MindMup as MindMup™ and consider registering® it as a trademark in relevant jurisdictions.

· Encourage commercial take-up and offer support contracts

Kind regards,

James Bayley

__

James Bayley

ElephantPM – Managing successful projects

Mobile +44 (0)7989 381331

Web http://www.elephantpm.com/ www.elephantpm.com

Twitter @ElephantPM

Skype jamesbayley1

Blog http://blog.jamesbayley.com/ blog.jamesbayley.com

Linked-in http://www.linkedin.com/in/drjamesbayley http://www.linkedin.com/in/drjamesbayley

(open the attached vcf file to save these contact details)

ElephantPM is a trading name of Doctor-IT Limited, a company registered in England

From: Gojko Adzic [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 15 September 2013 17:48
To: mindmup/mindmup
Cc: xjamesb
Subject: Re: [mindmup] License is now unsuitable for commercial use is that the intent? (#18)

The license prohibits creating a publicly accessible system that replicates MindMup.com - it has nothing to say about it being free or commercial. You're more than welcome to use the code for commercial purposes as long as what you do does not replicate the core service and interface of MindMup.com.

The reason for this is that we caught a spammer cloning the service and trying to get google drive users to go there instead of coming to MindMup.com, and there was nothing in the license that prohibited that kind of behaviour. Now we have a legal way of blocking that kind of abuse.

You can still run a local clone of MindMup.com in your company or for a closed group, or repurpose the code in your service that does not compete with us.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub #18 (comment) . https://github.com/notifications/beacon/xO7fRw8GyOzQ4hFUwTa3MvySIf37dQwiNvnZcmxKw2z3LuzHswDxbJ_U6BYEmPla.gif

from legacy-mindmup.

MindMup is not a startup, neither in the Eric Ries' or Paul Graham definition. If we were building software to live from support services, what you propose would make sense. However, we built mindmup because it was fun and the right thing to do.

If the current license does not allow you to do what you want, we can always issue you a separate license. Drop me an e-mail to [email protected] and we'll chat about it offline.

from legacy-mindmup.

Dear Gojko,

Thank you very much for your time in replying and your kind offer. I will certainly give you a call later on in my (hobby) project. I have updated my quite popular blog post on JavaScript libraries.

· http://blog.jamesbayley.com/2013/02/01/a-review-of-javascript-drawing-libraries-for-flowcharts-gantt-charts-and-timelines/

I note from Linked-in that you wrote Specification by Example and are an Agile practitioner. I am a freelance project manager and my work typically involves helping businesses improve the commercial success of their products by putting a tailored PRINCE2 wrapper around their Agile development. Earlier in my career I worked with our mutual contact Nathan Doughty at Asite.

I have send you a Linked-in request and it would be great if we could connect up. As freelancers we are always busy but do you go to any Meet-ups or similar in London? If so we would meet in person one evening.

Kind regards,

James

From: Gojko Adzic [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: 18 September 2013 01:56
To: mindmup/mindmup
Cc: xjamesb
Subject: Re: [mindmup] License is now unsuitable for commercial use is that the intent? (#18)

MindMup is not a startup, neither in the Eric Ries' or Paul Graham definition. If we were building software to live from support services, what you propose would make sense. However, we built mindmup because it was fun and the right thing to do.

If the current license does not allow you to do what you want, we can always issue you a separate license. Drop me an e-mail to [email protected] and we'll chat about it offline.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub #18 (comment) . https://github.com/notifications/beacon/xO7fRw8GyOzQ4hFUwTa3MvySIf37dQwiNvnZcmxKw2z3LuzHswDxbJ_U6BYEmPla.gif

http://sgmail.github.com/wf/open?upn=xV0JY-2FdZMnUMvSFtZnLiBO6yQRICJuir2cDlAhDG972DhyFuIQ5y6uPc5RMrMob9nhPCwmo7OfFNukU6vLKqvAsD-2BGd1Xp0-2Ff6eE8p3Q2Ot-2BQFjCh5mndT7I-2BKncost0lfCWUxhAAk9aGgyUIGpEALaaeS2EPoQ65Vv1L3s6am472nhZ5p-2B3khQG6zHlC-2BvpLxvc7cTFA4lM4iGamkUTAg-3D-3D

from legacy-mindmup.