Legal

If someone uses Drupal to build a custom "software as a service" web app (an example mght be basecamp [http://basecamphq.com/]), is there any way to prevent a competitor from getting acces to the custom code or configuration used to create it and starting a competing service?

This topic will be of interest to many people across various organizations today who are deliberating on whether to adopt drupal or not and if so to what extent.

We are a group of Drupal enthusiasts within a large IT services provider interested in using the drupal platform to configure and create simple tools to help the various teams within the organization in day to day activities.

There is a very old issue in the webmaster's queue (http://drupal.org/node/178776) about creating a privacy policy. With the docs team gearing up for a lot of work and survey action, bekasu felt we really needed to do some CYA and so she wrote up a comprehensive privacy policy. I've attached it to the issue and wanted to point this group to it since we need to obviously get legal review as well as figuring out what we really need in there and what we can chop off. I'm in no position to have anything meaningful to say, so hand it over to legal.

Hello

We have been asked to write a module that will connect to a 3rd party API on a separate server, using SOAP. The API is part of a closed source .NET application. The module cannot function (or even be installed) unless it retrieves data from the 3rd party API.

The license agreement for the 3rd party software strictly prohibits distribution and/or unlicensed access to the API, documentation etc.

bertboerland recently found that someone has created a Drupal API iPhone app. In the iTunes Store, it is sold for $1.99 and says "Copyright 2008 Sehat Rosny." I'm pretty sure this is a big no-no since on api.drupal.org, it says specifically, "All source code and documentation on this site is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 and later. Drupal is a registered trademark of Dries Buytaert." I e-mailed Apple about the violation so hopefully it is removed. I like the idea, but it's just not done correctly. Note the author also has done the same for PHP and Apache documentation. I haven't looked into either of those to see if they are violations as well.

After reading thru the CVS pages and licensing FAQ's - there's one thing I'm not clear on (this is more a general question rather than a drupal one).

If you have a drupal module licensed under Apache 2.0 it can't go in since that is not GPLv2 compatible - that I understand.

But - as the copyright holder - can such a license just be switched? Where no others have contributed - can I just switch out Apache 2.0 to GPLv2 ?

Would it have to apply for a given version and on (the version where the license changed) ?

Hi Everyone, I'm new and would appreciate a little light shone on a few things for me...

I am an Australian budding feelance web designer and couldn't believe my luck when I stumbled across Drupal! I'm not much of a programmer you see so to be able to create dynamic content this easily is a dream come true. However... After reading the legal FAQ's I have a few concerns.

So the short term is close to pass from December 2006 - any updated plans to incorporate in places other than Belgium?

Is Drupal a registered US 501(c)(3)?

No, as stated above, the Drupal Association has been incorporated in Belgium. We will explore ways of having sister / daughter organizations in different countries and what that means for different tax implications, but is not likely something we can tackle in the short term....

As announced, I've been working with the Software Freedom Law Center, lawyers, and the Drupal Association on drafting a public trademark policy for use of the Drupal trademark. We're all happy with the current draft, so this is the time to open it up to the community to get further input and feedback. Please read it carefully, and let us know if you have comments or suggestions. This policy is obviously an important one as more and more people starting abusing the Drupal trademark. Thanks!