Shareware Redistribution of FOSS Software

James Vasile

4/18/2008
(Original Publish Date: 3/27/2008)

The Software Freedom Law Center has prepared this document for free and open source ("FOSS") software developers concerned about redistribution of their software in violation of the free software licenses under which they are distributed. Specically, this paper discusses FOSS packages compiled into binary form and redistributed as shareware software that is available without monetary charge but is accompanied by a request or demand for payment to the author (typically for the Microsoft Windows operating system). This document discusses how and when such redistribution violates common FOSS licenses, and describes steps that can be taken during the development process to make enforcement easier in these cases.