End User License Clarification

[ttrm007 (Tom Mitchell)]

I’m hoping someone can help clarify the end user license found at freepbx.org/legal/

Can a small business use Freepbx based on this license?! Clearly, this system is designed for use by a small business, however, the agreement says,

" Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials (information or software) on Sangoma Technologies’ FreePBX.org web site for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you may not:

2. use the materials for any commercial purpose, or for any public display (commercial or non-commercial);"

Does ‘Commercial Purpose’ mean selling it? Or using it as your phone system?

I couldn’t really find anything here on the topic other than modifications of the gui, etc… which I’m not trying to do.

[cynjut (Dave Burgess)]

There was a rather lengthy discussion about this a year or so ago (maybe two) and the way I remember it being explained was that (since I only play a lawyer on the Internet) you can’t use the “materials” from the website for a commercial purpose, i.e., you can’t sell the files, graphics, or software without some kind of superseding agreement. The purpose of FreePBX and the other software is to use “the instance” of the software. In other words, you can use FreePBX to set up your (or another company’s) phone systems, but you can’t sell them the software (that’s still the property of Sangoma and not yours to sell). I hope I’m explaining that correctly.

[jsmith (Jared K Smith)]

Waht @cynjut said is essentially correct – you can use the materials on the website for your own personal use, but can’t resell the materials on the website. That being said, you absolutely can use FreePBX for commercial use. FreePBX itself is licensed under the GPL license, which in essence says that you can:

1. Use the software for either personal or commercial use
2. Study the source code to see how the program works, and make changes
3. Distribute copies of the software (under the same license, of course)
4. Distribute your modifications to the software (under the same license, of course)

[ttrm007 (Tom Mitchell)]

Thank you for the input. I really like the platform and considering expanding my use of it.