David Strip <[email protected]> writes: > On 8/25/2026 4:54 PM, Greg Troxel wrote: > >> Great, the next thing to check is if the terms are actually compatible. >> Enough people are fuzzy on licensing and willing to break the rules >> because they think app stores are important, that one can't conclude >> it's ok. > > Usual caveat - I am not a lawyer. > The publisher agreement is here. > > The relevant section appears to be 3b - > > (b) Third-Party Rights/Open-Source Licenses. Your Offer and Offer Assets > must not infringe or misappropriate any > intellectual property or personal right of any third party. If you license > any portion of your Offer from a third > party or under any open-source license, you are solely responsible for > compliance with such terms and for ensuring > that Microsoft, in its capacity as your agent or commissionaire, has the > necessary rights to perform its obligations > to you under this Agreement. You are, at your sole cost and expense, > responsible for securing, reporting, and > maintaining all necessary rights, clearances, and consents and paying all > licensing fees (including applicable public > performance license fees or other consideration associated with providing > music or video (and all content embodied > therein) in and through your Offer), and for undertaking all related > reporting obligations. > > For open source licenses, MS appears to have removed itself from the > licensing pathway between the person/organization > submitting the product and the customer. It is thus incumbent on the > submitter to provide the means for meeting the > license requirements, such as providing links to the license and source code. > Perhaps these links could be in the listing > in the MS Store, or in the about screen of the app. This is already the case > for the license in QGIS. > > Obviously an actual lawyer would need to verify this interpretation.
There are two sets of terms to consider. One is the agreement between the "app developer" and MS, and the other is between MS and people that obtain software from the store. The latter I think is at: https://www.microsoft.com/en-mt/store/b/terms-of-sale which does say 12. Software Licences and Use Rights. Software and other Digital Content, Digital Services and Additional Services made available to you through the Store are licensed, not sold, to you. Applications downloaded directly from the Store are subject to the Standard Application Licence Terms (“SALT”) unless different licence terms are provided with the application, with the exception of applications downloaded from the Office Store, which are not governed by the SALT and have separate license terms that are provided with the application.) This is a key point and seems ok. Digital Content and Digital Services and Additional Services obtained through the Store are subject to the Usage Rules for Digital Goods. You understand and acknowledge that your rights with respect to Digital Content, Digital Services and Additional Services are limited by the Terms of Sale, copyright law and the Usage Rules for Digital Goods. Software licences purchased through the Store are subject to the licence agreement that accompanies the software, and you will be required to agree to the licence agreement before you purchase, download or install the software. Any reproduction or redistribution of Digital Content, Digital Services and Additional Services not in accordance with the relevant licence terms or usage rules, and applicable law is expressly prohibited and may result in severe penalties. Violators risk prosecution to the maximum extent of the law. This "Usage Rules" bit sounds quite possibly not OK. The link does not load for me. Please contact Microsoft Store support if you would like a copy of the applicable licence agreement or warranty for boxed software, at no cost, before you open any software packaging. Other Terms and Conditions. In addition to software and other downloadable Products, Microsoft may offer to you other Products and Additional Services available in the Store, subject to separate end user licence agreements, terms of use, terms of service or other terms and conditions. If you purchase, install or use those Products or Additional Services, you may be required to also accept those terms as a condition of purchase, installation or use. I think a big open question is if someone downloads e.g. gimp from the MS Online Store, can they then make a copy of those bits and send them to someone else? Or are there technical barriers to exercising one's rights under the Free Software license? _______________________________________________ QGIS-Developer mailing list [email protected] List info: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer Unsubscribe: https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
