Overview

Our products are usually licensed on a per-installation basis. It doesn't make any difference how many visitors or how many users or how web sites you're dealing with - what's important is how many copies of the software you've installed.

Typically our products have a single license price, a five license price and an Enterprise or Redistribution license. The terms Enterprise and Redistribution are often used interchangeably. Essentially an Enterprise license covers you for - either - unlimited use within your company - or - redistribution as part of one application.

Scenario 1: Single Web Server

Suppose you have a web server. It has five sites on it. It supplies content to lots of clients. For this you need to install on one machine and so you need one single license.

We sometimes get asked if you need a license for your development machines and staging servers. In theory you need multiple licenses. However you can move a license between machines. So if you're only effectively using the product on one of these machines at any one time, you will only need one license.

Scenario 2: Multiple Web Servers

Suppose you have two web servers in a load balanced configuration. For this you need to install on two machines and so you need two licenses.

Scenario 3: Server Farm

Suppose you have twenty web servers on which you wish to install ImageGlue. For this you need twenty licenses. While you could purchase these licenses individually, it would probably be more efficient to purchase an Enterprise License which would cover you for all the machines in your organization.

Scenario 4: Redistributable Application

Suppose you have an application called DocFlow 1.0. You want to redistribute ABCpdf as part of this application. You need a Redistribution license. This entitles you to embed ABCpdf invisibly within your application and redistribute it freely to an unlimited number of clients. It also covers you for any development machines being used to construct your DocFlow application.

Suppose you release DocFlow 2.0. Because you will no longer be redistributing DocFlow 1.0 you can now use the Redistribution license for version 2.0.

Now you release SecureDoc 1.0 which also uses ABCpdf but is part of the DocFlow application suite. As long as SecureDoc is something that can only be purchased as part of the suite we would regard it as part of DocFlow - so it would be covered by your existing Redistribution license.

However SecureDoc 1.0 is so popular that you decide to split it off as a separate application with its own price tag. Because it has now become a separate application you will need a new Redistribution license to cover it.

Scenario 5: Development Product

Most people will not need this type of license. It's only relevant if you want to redistribute a software development system of some kind - something which will expose ABCpdf functionality to your clients via some kind of API. Something your clients will be writing code for.

Suppose you want to put together a grid control which includes export to PDF. Because this grid control is a development product it cannot be licensed under the terms of the standard license.

Or suppose you wanted to create an image processing component aimed at the Arabic market. You want to base this component around ImageGlue functionality but with documentation and support created by you in Arabic. Again because this component is a development product it cannot be licensed under the terms of the standard license.

In these situations you would need to look at an OEM agreement...

License FAQ

Does my license cover my subsidiaries or divisions?

A license is specific to you. It is registered to a particular company or individual - you choose which one when you purchase. You cannot sell, give, lend or otherwise transfer it to any other entity.

If your subsidiary or division is legally the same as you then it is covered. So if you have divisions of a company which are simply administrative sections headed by different managers then all of them are covered. However if your divisions or subsidiaries are separate companies then they are not covered.

For example HSBC Holdings is a company registered in the UK which owns HSBC banks throughout the world. A license for HSBC Holdings would cover the UK company but not any of the subsidiaries. HSBC China would need its own license if it wanted to use the software. Likewise a license for HSBC Bank USA would not cover HSBC Holdings or HSBC China.

I'm selling my company. What happens to my licenses?

Selling your company makes no difference if the license is registered to the company. The company still exists. The fact that you are no longer the owner is not important. However the new owner doesn't gain any rights from this - they just own the company that has the rights. The rights are dependent on the existence of the company and are exercisable by that company only.

For example I develop an application for which I purchase a Redistribution License. I then sell my company to Microsoft. The company still has the rights to redistribute our software with the application and it continues to do so. At a later point in time Microsoft decides to dissolve the company and take the application in house. At that point in time Microsoft will need to purchase its own Redistribution License.

Does my license cover my consultants?

In short - yes.

The license covers use on machines under your control. So if you have a consultant working in-house on your computers then they can use licenses on those computers.

We provide support to you for licenses registered to you. We will provide support for in-house consultants but only if they contact us using an email address associated with your company.

Does my license cover my outsourced developers?

In short - no.

Of course your employees can use the software. However employees of other companies are not covered and may not use your licenses. If your outsourced developers wish to use the software and obtain support then they will need to obtain their own licenses.

This is not something you should need to be concerned about. If you employ IBM to help you develop software they're not going to ask you to get them licenses for Visual Studio. Any professional software company should be allowing resources for the software they need to do their work.

If your developers ask if they can 'borrow' your software you should think carefully about the level of professionalism involved. Indeed if their modus operandi is to 'borrow' software who is to say whether the software they are developing for you might later be 'lent' to someone else. Or indeed that the software they have 'borrowed' off you might later be 'lent' to someone else causing legal issues for you or the other user.

Where is the actual agreement?

License agreements are specific to the software you install.

You will find the specific license agreement under the menu item for your software.

However the license agreement below fairly typical.

Typical License Agreement

General

The copyright in this software ("the Software") is owned by WebSupergoo ("the Owner"). You may not load the Software into any computer or copy it without the license of the Owner. The Owner offers you a non-exclusive, non-transferable license on the terms of this Agreement. If you do not accept these terms you may within 30 days of purchase return the Software, its packaging and documentation unused and intact to your supplier together with proof of purchase for a full refund.

For the purposes of this agreement, a computer is regarded as a single instance of an Operating System installed on a physical machine. So multiple instances of Operating Systems (e.g. Virtual Machines) installed on a physical machine are regarded as multiple computers.

You are permitted to:

1) load the Software and use it only on a single computer which is under your control, unless a multiple user license has been purchased in which case the software may be used on any number of computers, up to a maximum total equal to the number of purchased licenses;

2) transfer the Software from one computer to another provided it is used on only one computer at any one time, unless a multiple user license has been purchased in which case the software may be used on any number of computers, up to a maximum total equal to the number of purchased licenses;

3) provided that you have purchased an Enterprise License you may load the Software and use it on any computer which is owned by you;

4) provided that you have purchased a Redistribution License and provided that your application is not a software development system as detailed in clause (b) below, you may distribute the Software (without royalty) as part of a single distinct application, unless multiple Redistribution Licenses have been purchased in which case the software may be distributed as part of a number of distinct applications, up to a maximum total equal to the number of purchased licenses;

You are not permitted:

a) to rent, lease, sub-license, loan, copy (except as expressly provided in this Agreement), modify, adapt, merge, translate, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, create derivative works based on the whole or any part of the Software or its associated documentation or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the Software.

b) to distribute any part of the Software as part of any software development system (compiler or interpreter) without the Owners express written permission.

c) except as expressly provided in this Agreement, to use, reproduce or deal in the Software in any way.

Acceptance

You shall be deemed to have accepted the terms of this Agreement by loading the Software into any computer.

Term

This license is effective until you terminate it by destroying the Software and its documentation together with all copies. It will also terminate if you fail to abide by this Agreement. Upon termination you agree to destroy all copies of the Software and its documentation including any Software stored on the hard disk of any computer under your control.

Ownership

The Owner shall at all times retain ownership of the Software and all subsequent copies thereof regardless of form. This Agreement applies to the grant of the license only and not to the contract of sale of the Software. You may not assign or transfer this Agreement or license, in whole or in part, without the Owners prior written consent.

Warranties

1) The Owner warrants that the Software will perform substantially in accordance with its accompanying documentation (provided that the Software is properly used on the computer and with the operating system for which it was designed) and that the documentation correctly describes the operation of the Software in all material respects. If the Owner is notified of significant errors during the Warranty Period it will correct any such demonstrable errors in the Software or its documentation within a reasonable time or (at its option) provide or authorize a refund of the price of the Software (against return of the Software and its documentation).

3) The above represent your sole remedies for any breach of the Owner's warranties, which are given only to the original registered user.

4) The express terms of this Agreement are in lieu of all warranties, conditions, undertakings, terms and obligations implied by statute, common law, trade usage, course of dealing or otherwise all of which are hereby excluded to the fullest extent permitted by law.

5) The Owner does not warrant that the Software will meet your requirements or that the operation of the Software will be uninterrupted or error-free or that defects in the Software will be corrected. You shall load and use the Software at your own risk and in no event will the Owner be liable to you for any loss or damage of any kind (except personal injury or death resulting from the Owner's negligence) including lost profits or other consequential loss arising from your use of or inability to use the Software or from errors or deficiencies in it whether caused by negligence or otherwise except as expressly provided herein.

6) All other warranties are disclaimed, to the extent permitted by applicable law, by the Owner and all other parties.

Some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental, consequential or special damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you. Also some states or jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of implied warranties or limitations on how long an implied warranty may last, so the above limitations may not apply to you. To the extent permissible, any implied warranties are limited to ninety (90) days. This warranty gives you specific legal rights. You may have other rights which vary from state to state or jurisdiction to jurisdiction. For further warranty information, please contact the Owner.

Law

This Agreement shall be governed by English law.

This Agreement will not be governed by the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods, the Uniform Law on the Formation of Agreements for the International Sale of Goods, or the Uniform Law on the International Sale of Goods, or any law, rule or regulation or any jurisdiction based on any of the foregoing, and the application of all the foregoing is expressly excluded.

If any part of this Agreement is found void and unenforceable, it will not affect the validity of the balance of the Agreement, which shall remain valid and enforceable according to its terms.

You agree that the Software will not be shipped, transferred or exported into any country or used in any manner prohibited by the United States Export Administration Act or any other export laws, restrictions or regulations. This Agreement may only be modified in writing signed by authorized officers of the Owner.