Do you know the key differences between and EULA and a free software license? This short, informative presentation will help you figure out which one is best for your software program/mobile app. Read the related blog post here: https://termsfeed.com/blog/eula-free-software-license/

1. EULA vs Free Software License

2. Most software today is licensed rather than purchased.
There are two main types of licensing:
End User License Agreements (EULA)
Free Software Licenses

3. EULA
An EULA is a contract between the software publisher and the
user. It establishes the user’s right to use the software via a
limited license that is being purchased.
Users must agree to the terms of the EULA in order to use the
software.

4. Free Software License
A Free Software License is a notice that gives the software
user rights to modify the software that’s provided for free.
Users don’t need to agree to anything, as this type of license
basically declares, “I grant you the permission to copy and
modify this software as you want.”

5. Let’s look at some of the key differences in licensing.

6. Ownership
When a software distributor wishes to retain full ownership of
the software and only provide limited-use licenses, an EULA
will be used.

7. EULA’s will include a clause that covers ownership, proprietary
rights, copyright notices and trademark rights.

8. Free Software Licenses are used when the software owner
does not wish to retain exclusive ownership rights.
However, there will be copyright ownership in the original
source code, and the Free Software License will require that
modified versions of the software still refer to the original
creator’s copyright.

9. Rights Granted
An EULA will tell users what they cannot do, while a Free Software
License will tell users what they can do.

10. An EULA grants very limited rights. A license under an EULA is
typically non-exclusive, non-transferable, revocable and comes
with a number of restrictions, such as:
No reverse engineering or modifying the software
No reselling or distributing the software
No commercial use of the software

12. A Free Software License is very much the opposite.
It typically grants unrestricted and full rights to modify, alter,
sub-license and distribute the software, so long as the original
copyright information is included in any modifications, as
noted earlier.

13. Obligations and Duties
EULA’s come with far more obligations and duties than Free
Software Licenses.

14. An EULA usually spells out obligations and duties of users in
order to use the license.
These typically include payment of fees and subscriptions, as
well as agreeing to and adhering to all of the EULA terms or
risking license termination.

16. Free Software Licenses rarely impose obligations, and when
they do they’re minimal.
This MIT License simply requires that the copyright notice and
permission notice be included in all copies of software a user
distributes.

17. Acceptance of Terms
When a software distributor wishes to retain full ownership of
the software and only provide limited-use licenses, an EULA
will be used.
I agree to the EULA

18. Because an EULA is a contract between the software distributor
and the user, the user must formally accept its terms.
This is typically done at installation with a notice such as this:

19. Because a Free Software License is a notice and not a contract,
no acceptance is needed.

20. Liability
Both EULA’s and Free Software Licenses will include warranty
disclaimers and limitations of liability.
This is because all software comes with risks, and the main
distributor will wish to limit his legal liability for them, regardless
of whether the software is provided for free or for a fee.

22. Key differences between these licensing agreements:
A contract between distributor and
software user.
Must be accepted by users.
Distributor retains full ownership.
Grants a limited license, describing
what cannot be done.
Are long, detailed and specific.
Designed for specific products and
product lines.
A notice to users of software.
Does not need to be accepted by users.
Distributor does not retain full ownership.
Grants a broad, open license, describing
what can be done.
Are very short and general.
Designed to apply to all open code
software.