SellingOOo

Category:Draft marketing ideas and materials

Draft marketing documents index

FAQ: Is it Legal to sell OpenOffice Software?

The short answer: Yes

OpenOffice software is licensed under Apache free software license. With certain restrictions, this means that people are free to sell the software on CD-ROM, via downloads, via eBay or any other way they choose, for whatever price people are willing to pay. The vendor is under no legal obligation to give any of the proceeds of sale to the OpenOffice Community.

The Rules

This is provided for guidance only - if you want legal advice, please consult a qualified legal professional

Legally, sellers must:

• Comply with the Apache License 2.0, with attention to section 4 Redistribution.
• obtain our permission before using our trademarks, including our logo

Detailed FAQs

I've just paid for OpenOffice and now I've discovered I could have downloaded it for free

You may have a claim under local consumer rights legislation but it's unlikely. Sorry, we aren't lawyers.

I've just paid for OpenOffice and the seller hasn't sent me anything

You probably do have a claim under local consumer rights legislation. Again, we aren't lawyers.

I've just paid for XYZ Office (insert name) and it's really OpenOffice

As long as the vendor hasn't broken any of the rules, they aren't doing anything wrong.

Isn't this all very unfair?

There can be situations where people charge a reasonable price for sending a CD or offering additional support. But we don't like it when people make use of our software as a means of ripping people off. We don't like it when people make use of what the Community has produced and don't donate anything back to the Community.

So please help us - tell everyone about OpenOffice. Encourage them to come directly to us. Share your copy of the software with them. The more people know about OpenOffice, then the fewer people there are for unscrupulous sellers to target.