RE: More NI License Problems

[<Bjo...@si...>]

While i'm no lawyer, my previous experience with similar things makes me
think that it is rather clear that it is against the law to prevent people
from doing derivative work based on the work of others (Labview in this
case). At least in Europe, a license like the one you describe will in fact
be illegal. They can charge a fee or similar for distribution, for instance
a fee for each LV runtime environment (or similar) you distribute (just as
you have to pay for the LV development environment license), but they cannot
do anything at all with the LV code you are developing and distributing,
that is your work and is protected by the law (copyrights, and in some cases
patents). If what you are making has been made before (by NI), it is of no
relevance legally unless you infringe some copyrights or patents. In Europe
it is illegal to make agreements (against better knowledge) that doesn't
follow the laws, such an agreement is in any case worth nothing in court and
i guess it is the same in the US.

Seems to me that NI is trying to prevent someone from making a LV clone of
some sort. While understandable why NI is trying to do that, a LV clone is
perfectly legal as long as no copyrights or patents are infringed,
regardless of any license.

  

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Kring [mailto:ji...@ji...]
> Sent: 26. november 2003 01:58
> To: ope...@li...
> Subject: FW: More NI License Problems
> 
> 
> Hello OpenG Developers,
> 
> I just sent this email to the Info-LabVIEW mailing list.  
> This has many
> implications for OpenG projects.  I'm not yet sure what NI's 
> response is --
> we'll have to wait and see.
> 
> -Jim
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Kring 
> Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 3:01 PM
> To: 'info-labview'
> Subject: More NI License Problems
> 
> 
> Hello Info-LV'ers,
> 
> For those of you who haven't read your NISLA (NATIONAL 
> INSTRUMENTS SOFTWARE
> LICENSE AGREEMENT) lately, I suggest that you take a look.  
> The VISA Serial
> issue (see thread: "Distributing built application with VISA 
> = Not free") is
> only the tip of the iceberg, it seems.  The definition of what is an
> "Authorized Application" (the only type of application you 
> are allowed to
> create, per the NISLA) has grown to exclude *ANY* 
> applications that compete
> with *ANY* National Instruments software.  This seems to 
> imply that if one
> is developing a software product that NI finds valuable, it 
> would be well
> within NI's rights to start development of a similar product 
> and then issue
> the competitor a cease and desist order.  This is very 
> troubling, in my
> opinion, and seems to affect the rights of anyone who 
> distributes *ANY*
> software written in LabVIEW, for sale or for free.
> 
> Any thoughts?  Please, someone at NI, tell me that I am wrong.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> -Jim Kring
> 
> 
> Section 1 Part E of the NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS SOFTWARE LICENSE 
> AGREEMENT
> 
> -- August 2001 (circa LabVIEW 6.1) --
> 1.E.   "Authorized Applications." Means only those 
> applications that: (i)
> you create with development versions of the SOFTWARE that you 
> have validly
> licensed and (ii) are not in themselves general purpose tools 
> that permit
> the development of applications to acquire, display, or analyze data.
> -------------------------------------
> 
> -- April 2003 (circa LabVIEW 7.0) --
> 1.E.	"Authorized Applications." Means only those 
> applications that: (i)
> you create with development versions of the SOFTWARE that you 
> have validly
> licensed and (ii) which do not, as solely determined by NI, 
> perform (by
> themselves or in combination with other products) the same or similar
> functions as (or are otherwise intended to replace or 
> supplant any component
> of) the SOFTWARE or any other software of NI.  Notwithstanding the
> foregoing, any application created with the SOFTWARE acquired under an
> evaluation license is not an Authorized Application.
> -------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
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