Java License question - When to pay license ?

[uhu]

Hi everyone,

I just need to know, if I developed / modified an application (eg. Java Petstore) for J2EE platform and then sell it, do I need to pay any licensing fee to Sun ?

In what case do I need to pay licensing fee ?

Many thanks in advance

Note: I'm using the free to download J2EE SDK & Eclipse for development.

vito

 

[sedj]

DISCLAIMER : I am by no means a lawyer, and could well be wrong about all information below !!!

It depends what licence is in the source code I think. For example, in one of there example J2EE apps, the "adventure1.0ea2" release, the java source code bears this :

/* Copyright 2003 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:

- Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

- Redistribution in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in
the documentation and/or other materials provided with the
distribution.

Neither the name of Sun Microsystems, Inc. or the names of
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
from this software without specific prior written permission.

This software is provided "AS IS," without a warranty of any
kind. ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED CONDITIONS, REPRESENTATIONS AND
WARRANTIES, INCLUDING ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR NON-INFRINGEMENT, ARE HEREBY
EXCLUDED. SUN AND ITS LICENSORS SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES
SUFFERED BY LICENSEE AS A RESULT OF USING, MODIFYING OR
DISTRIBUTING THE SOFTWARE OR ITS DERIVATIVES. IN NO EVENT WILL SUN
OR ITS LICENSORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOST REVENUE, PROFIT OR DATA, OR
FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INCIDENTAL OR
PUNITIVE DAMAGES, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THE THEORY OF
LIABILITY, ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE SOFTWARE,
EVEN IF SUN HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

Now this means that you can modify and redistribute the code freely.

However, take for example this licence on the java.net.URL class :

/*
* @(#)URL.java 1.117 02/02/07
*
* Copyright 2002 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All rights reserved.
* SUN PROPRIETARY/CONFIDENTIAL. Use is subject to license terms.
*/

No I don;t think you could modify and redistribute this without agreement from sun.

 

[uhu]

Hi Sedj,

Thank you for the reply.
It's the clearest answer i've had so far.

Just one more thing, do you know any website or where to find a list of classes which need license (eg. your example of java.net.URL) rather than checking each class manually.

once again, thanks

vito

 

[sedj]

The rule of thumb is that core java package classes will be like the URL.java example, whereas example apps will be like the first example - but you should always be very aware of each piece you are using.

Also beware of the example of JBoss vs Apache some months ago - JBoss source code is available and redistibutable under the SAME licence as they use (LGPL ??). Now apache's new J2EE container (can't remember the name right now) used some of the JBoss code, but licenced it under the Apache licence- hwich is similar, but not the same as JBoss's. They almost went to court over that - so I would be very very careful about exactly copying and redistributing ANY code.

Using the example apps and writing your own with their's as a base is OK, but I would avoid cut'n'paste of their code, just in case ...

 

[hologram]

Same disclaimer as sedj ...

If you, instead of changing the source code, just extend it (you don't want to change the classes in the jdk anyway), you don't have to pay any license. The client just has to download the jdk or jre from Sun... It's then up to the client if he has to pay any license...

 

[uhu]

Thank you very much both of you sedj & hologram

now i'm ready to program in java