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What are the legal obligations to put into evidence that my application (I am the author) is open-source (especially when it is derivate), if I want to sell copies of it?

I mean, could my open-source application be sold, with all the licensing stuff and source code inside and not hidden, but without saying so in the advertising for the app in the app-store?

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That would depend on the license used. Read it. Generally they want to be mentioned in "About" screens and such. – Thilo Sep 8 '11 at 9:55
the license is GPL – P5music Sep 8 '11 at 10:28
What app store are you referring to? – Mark H Sep 8 '11 at 12:16
I imagine the app store might have a reputation to maintain, and thus your user agreement with them might have a say in this. The GPL doesn't require you to put anything in the advertising or the application itself, but as a customer, I would certainly be dismayed if I found out later that I bought from you something I could have obtained for free. Don't you care about your own reputation at all? – tripleee Sep 9 '11 at 8:06
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selling copies of my open-source app is a right for others and not for me? @tripleee – P5music Sep 9 '11 at 9:50
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migrated from stackoverflow.com Jan 2 '12 at 7:37

1 Answer

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It is a requirement of the open source definition that "The program must include source code, and must allow distribution in source code as well as compiled form." There is no requirement to prominently advertise the fact that your application is open source, but you must make the code available.

As an example, my TV runs Linux. If I go deep into the settings menu I can find an "licence" page that displays the licence and a URL to get the source. However, nowhere in the advertising or the handbook does it say anything about open source.

NOTE: Many app-store terms and conditions prevent some types of open source license being deployed on their service. See App Stores and Openess for more information.

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