Brett Neumeier wrote:
> A couple of points. First, there is certainly some application code
> that is linked with iText, but that is not necessarily the entire
> application system.

Suppose that you use a proprietary application server, then that 
application server doesn't count as "covered work". That's true.

> Suppose that I write a Java program that takes its standard input as a
> series of commands that are passed to a cluster of iText objects. In
> that case, that Java program is a "work based on" the iText program,
> and it is therefore a "covered work" as defined in section 0. However,
> if I have a web application that spawns a copy of that program and
> passes commands to it via standard input, I do not believe that the
> web application becomes a "covered work." Do you believe it does? If
> so, can you point me to the sections of the AGPL that say so?

I can't, but this is more or less what an attorney told me: iText is a 
library that is used to create PDF. If creating PDF is a substantial 
part of a web application, for instance: you have a webshop, and 
customers get their an invoice in the form of a PDF file, then the web 
application is considered a "covered work".

A developer could argue that he could create an application where 
there's only a loose coupling, but that won't hold up in court, because 
a judge will see this as a ruse, as an attempt to create yet another 
loophole.

> Second, section 13 -- which is the only section I see that talks about
> users interacting with the program over a network -- doesn't talk
> about covered works. It talks about "modified versions" of the
> Program. I don't see anything in the AGPL that equates "covered works"
> and "modified versions."
(...)
> If section 13 was intended to apply to "covered
> works," why doesn't it use that term?

Section 13 clarifies the difference between the GPLv3 and the AGPL. It 
doesn't mean that you suddenly can use AGPL'ed software in combination 
with proprietary, closed source software.

> I am hoping that someone will be willing and able to answer that question.

I am not a lawyer either. I can only repeat what an attorney told me.
When in doubt: contact an attorney.
best regards,
Bruno

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