I need a licence agreement for my software, and I'm just wondering if it's ok to copy-paste-edit together a license agreement using parts of say one of Dexterity's Software Licence Agreement, or someone elses agreements, or if it's necessary to completely write my own?

So you are asking about the licence agreement for the licence agreement. Interesting.

Um, yeah :)

I'd be rather surprised if someone has copyrighted their license agreement. :)

EULAs are normally copyrighted just like any other part of a game, so you can't copy them w/o the owner's permission. We don't give permission to other companies to use our EULA, but it's probably possible to find a template for one online somewhere.

Okay, thanks for your response Steve. It's clear to me now.

Here (http://upload.it/shareware_soft_000038.htm) is a sample that I used

Thanks!

Originally posted by Dexterity
EULAs are normally copyrighted just like any other part of a game, so you can't copy them w/o the owner's permission.

Wow, that really surprises me. I personally know that I wouldn't give a flip if somebody wanted to employ similar or even identical verbiage to their EULA as me. I mean, what damages could I claim if they did? Surely nobody would care if you did? :confused:

Punchey, you have to think of an EULA as software made by lawyers. As any software you wouldn't really like that someone ripped it off. Besides it can be very counterproductive, EULA:s are not all alike. It is like trying to do cut-and paste coding without understanding what the code does. :)

In alot of situations, I'd agree with you, Kai. But alot of EULAs just say something like:

X software company grants you a limited license to use their software on one computer. Redistribution of this software is prohibited without prior permission from X software company.

And a few more lines like the above... How could such a thing be copyrighted? I believe there are copyright laws that prohibit the copyrighting of something that is too basic (much like patent laws). For instance, I would very likely be denied a copyright claim on the following:

#include <stdio.h>

void main(void)
{
printf("Hello world!");
}

Similarly, I doubt a claim on a run-of-the-mill EULA would be enforcible either since it would merely be stating terms that ANYBODY would state to protect their software. Sure, some exceptions may exist...

Agreed, much of a content in an EULA is stuff like: "don't make illegal copies" but there are many subtle and meaningful differences beyond that. One is the place of jurisdiction, my EULA states that disputes are solved in Helsinki court. This means that the EULA has to conform to local legislation and the one used by an US company would not be sufficient. There are other differences like how the rights to player created content is managed, what is the difference between the "trial" and "full" version, how can you distribute the "trial" etc.

I think the online distribution business is so new that some forms of licensing are tried out here for the first time in a larger scale. Just compare the EULAs of Space Station Manager and say Dweep. Much of the content is similar but the wording is really quite different.

One is the place of jurisdiction, my EULA states that disputes are solved in Helsinki court.

Okay, this is a good idea. So, do I have your permission to employ a similar measure in my EULA? :) Not Helsinki though, ofcourse. :D

Just put Helsinki there, it makes it so much easier for us folks up here .. :)

You are free to specify whatever terms you like as part of your EULA. Only the specific language used in an EULA is protected by copyright. What you could do is look at a bunch of licenses, decide upon the terms you'd like to include, and hire a lawyer to write you up an EULA.

If it were me I'd simply have a copyright statement and a warranty disclaimer, or perhaps something like Borland's old "Like a Book" license.