Talk by Ywein Van den Brande, Attorney at law (technology and new media) at the iText Summit in 2012.

1. iText 29/03/2012
Choosing the iText Solution that is right for you:
Community or Commercial editions
Ywein Van den Brande
ywein@crealaw.eu

2. Me & FOSS
www.ifosslawbook.org
www.crealaw.eu
www.ifosslr.org

3. FOSS & ©
FOSS Licenses are based on ©
-> FOSS is software to which users generally receive more
rights (freedoms) via their license agreement, than
they would normally have with a proprietary software
license.
-> However, the FOSS license conditions need to be
respected by the user.
FOSS has been enforced in court
www.crealaw.eu

4. © 1T3XT
ICLA:
iText
Contributor
License
Agreement
www.crealaw.eu

5. © 1T3XT
By © law:
- No reproduction (even in part)
- No translation, adaptation, arrangement or
alteration
- No distribution
Without permission of iText Software Corp.
(California, USA) or iText Software BVBA
www.crealaw.eu

6. © 1T3XT
But you do have permission:
Community or Commercial
www.crealaw.eu

7. Community: Free as in freedom
- You may run GPL software
-> no acceptance of the GPL
www.crealaw.eu

8. Community: Free as in freedom
- You do more with iText:
- you built iText in your application
- You distribute iText
- ...
-> acceptance of the GPL
www.crealaw.eu

9. Community: Free as in freedom
Software provided as is
- No warranty
- No support
www.crealaw.eu

10. Community: Free as in freedom
If your application modifies iText or is based on iText -> copyleft:
- If you distribute your application (GPL)
- If you use your application in a network environment (AGPL)
(Art. 13: “Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, if you modify the
Program, your modified version must prominently offer all users interacting with it
remotely through a computer network (if your version supports such interaction) an
opportunity to receive the Corresponding Source of your version by providing access to
the Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge, through some standard
or customary means of facilitating copying of software.”)
-> the program is designed to accept user requests and send
responses over a network
www.crealaw.eu

11. Community: Free as in freedom
You must:
- Distribute your application under GPLv3 or
compatible (iText remains AGPLv3)
- Distribute a copy of the source code of your
application (or alternative)
- Distribute a copy of the AGPLv3
- Respect iText notices
- …
www.crealaw.eu

12. Commercial
€
- Warranty (e.g. Indemnification in the event of
IP infringement)
- Support
- Release from the community requirements:
-
Distribution under GPL
Distribution of source code
iText notices
…
www.crealaw.eu

13. Commercial
- A trusted supplier – long term commitment
- Negotiation of terms
www.crealaw.eu

14. Need more info?
Contact Ywein:
Read more:
ywein@crealaw.eu
@ywein
0494/50.46.99
Free to read at www.crealaw.eu
30% discount for iText participants
(mention it when ordering)

15. Summary: Het Praktijkboek
Informaticarecht
I. An overview of the intellectual property rights (difference between copyright, patents,
databases, trademarks...)
II. Development of software (Chapter I applied to software: own development, development by
employees, consultants, suppliers...)
III. Using third party software in your own application (your rights and obligations when using
third party software, cloning software...)
IV. Free and Open Source Software (your rights and obligations when using FOSS)
V. Most important contracts (How do you close a contract? What to take into account when
negotiating? What contracts do exist? A guide for supplier and client.
VI. Software distribution (take care when using third parties to distribute your software)
VII. Public procurement (The government invests massively in ICT. How to find public tenders, how
to participate and what are the legal pitfalls?)
VIII. Treatment of personal data (When is it allowed to treat personal data and under what
conditions?)
IX. Employees and independent consultants (Can they steal your clients? Can you protect your
confidential information and IP? What to take into account when employing them?)