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<title>Conditions to distribute Ghostscript in a commercial context</title>
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<h1>Conditions on distributing Ghostscript in a commercial context</h1>
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<h2>Table of contents</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="#GPL">The GNU Affero General Public License (GPL)</a>
<li><a href="#examples">Distribution examples</a>
</ul>
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<p>
This document sets forth the conditions under which Ghostscript may be
distributed in a commercial context: under a written license from <a
href="http://artifex.com/">Artifex Software</a> Inc., the copyright
holder's exclusive commercial licensing partner, or under certain other
very limited conditions.
<p>For other information, see the <a href="Readme.htm">Ghostscript
overview</a>.
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<p>
The use of the public-access "free" versions of Ghostscript
<h2><a name="GPL"></a>The GNU Affero General Public License (GPL)</h2>
<p>
Ghostscript is a copyrighted work whose copyright is owned by
Artifex Software, Inc.
Some versions of Ghostscript are distributed freely under the name
GPL Ghostscript or (for older versions) GNU Ghostscript; these versions
are distributed with a license called the GNU
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html">Affero General Public License</a>
(also known as the "AGPL", or "copyleft"), which allows gratis and commercial distribution under certain conditions, most
particularly, source complete source disclosure.
</p>
<p>
Versions of Ghostscript between version 4.03 and 8.54 were also
distributed under a more restrictive license disallowing commercial
redistribution entirely. These versions were labelled "AFPL Ghostsript" or
just "Ghostscript", and were governed by the Aladdin Free Public License.
</p>
<p>
The full AGPL is included under the name
<code>COPYING</code> in the GPL Ghostscript fileset, and
can also be obtained directly from the Free Software Foundation:
<blockquote><address><a name="FSF_address"></a>
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF)<br>
59 Temple Place, Suite 330<br>
Boston, MA 02111-1307 U.S.A.<br>
+1-617-542-5942 telephone<br>
+1-617-542-2652 fax (including Japan):<br>
<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org">gnu@gnu.org</a><br>
<a href="http://www.gnu.org/">http://www.gnu.org/</a>
</address></blockquote>
<p>
The GPL gotten directly from the FSF or the contents of the
<code>COPYING</code> file are authoritative, but for those
unfamiliar with the GPL, we now summarize its provisions.
<p>1. Anyone may copy and distribute GPL Ghostscript (both source
and object code), but they must distribute the source code as well as
the object code (or, if they distribute only the object code, they must
include an offer in writing to provide the source code at no more than
reproduction cost), keep all copyright and other notices, and include the
GPL with the copies. (Note that this allows anyone receiving such a copy
to distribute it freely as well.)
<p>2. Anyone may modify GPL Ghostscript, but the provisions of (1)
apply to modified or derived works as well.
<p>
Provision (2) effectively prevents the development of proprietary commercial
products that incorporate GPL Ghostscript without a commercial license
as a part, since these are "derived works" in the legal sense.
<p><strong> IF YOUR ENTIRE APPLICATION IS LICENSED TO THE PUBLIC
UNDER EITHER
THE AFPL OR THE GNU AGPL, YOU CAN DISTRIBUTE AFPL GHOSTSCRIPT OR GNU
GHOSTSCRIPT, RESPECTIVELY, WITH YOUR APPLICATION WITHOUT A COMMERCIAL
LICENSE . . .</strong>
<p> If your application, including all of its source code, is
licensed
to the public under the GNU AGPL, you are authorized to ship
GPL Ghostscript with your application
under the terms of those license agreements. You do not need a
commercial license from Artifex. The terms of the GNU AGPL
include the requirement that your application be licensed as a whole at
no charge to all third parties. Moreover, the entire application must be
licensed to the public under the GNU AGPL or AFPL respectively.
<p> IF YOUR APPLICATION IS NOT LICENSED TO THE PUBLIC UNDER
THE GNU AGPL AND YOU PLAN TO DISTRIBUTE GHOSTSCRIPT SOFTWARE. . .
<p> If your application (including its source code) is not licensed
to the public under the GNU AGPL, you are not authorized to ship
GPL Ghostscript with your application under the terms of the GNU AGPL
if any one of the following is true:
<ul>
<li> your application contains a copy of some or all of GPL
Ghostscript;
<li> your application is derived from, is based on, or constitutes a
revision of some or all of GPL or Ghostscript;
<li> your application includes one or more functions that use some or
all of GPL or Ghostscript.
</ul>
<p>
These criteria apply to your application as a whole. Even if only
one section of your application satisfies one of these criteria, you are
not authorized to ship GPL Ghostscript with your application
unless your application, including all of its source code, is licensed
to the public under the GNU AGPL.
<p>
If your application (including its source code) is NOT licensed to
the public under the GNU AGPL and you intend to distribute
Ghostscript (either internally or externally) for use with and usable by
your application, you MUST first obtain a commercial license from
Artifex.
<h2><a name="examples"></a>Examples of Distribution</h2>
<p>
Some examples of distribution requiring a commercial license
include:
<p>
1. Distributing Ghostscript (or any component thereof) within your
non-GNU AGPL application.
<p>
2. Distributing Ghostscript on the same media with your
non-GNU AGPL application for use with and by your application.
<p>
3. Distributing Ghostscript embedded within hardware.
<p>
Questions have arisen at times in particular cases regarding provision (3)
as to whether GPL Ghostscript is "aggregated" with other parts of a
commercial product, or whether the product has become a "derived work."
Normally, combining GPL Ghostscript with another piece of software
creates
a "derived work"; we consider GPL Ghostscript to be "aggregated" with
another piece of software, which we will refer to as "the application",
only if all of the following conditions are met:
<ul>
<li> The code and documentation for GPL Ghostscript are physically
separated from the code and documentation for the application. For
electronic form, it is both necessary and sufficient to put the GNU
Ghostscript code and documentation in their own directory tree(s).
<li> GPL Ghostscript, as delivered with the application, is usable
independently of the application. More precisely, if a user deletes from
the computer system all files delivered with the application except those
in the GPL Ghostscript directories, the user will still be able to use
GPL Ghostscript as described in GPL Ghostscript's documentation. Among
other things, this requires that GPL Ghostscript not call any routines
in the application, and not require any data or other files supplied as
part of the application.
<li> The application calls GPL Ghostscript in a way that allows an
ordinary user to substitute another program for GPL Ghostscript.
(Typically this requires use of a shell script or batch file, or a
system call like "<code>exec</code>".) More precisely, if the user
deletes from the computer system all the files in the GPL Ghostscript
directories, and replaces the GPL Ghostscript executable with another
program with the same name and conforming to the same documentation, the
application will continue to work with it. One implication of this is
that the GPL Ghostscript documentation must specify all properties of
GPL Ghostscript on which the application relies; for example, if GPL
Ghostscript has been modified by the addition of command line switches
or language elements such as new operators, the documentation must
describe any such additions that the application uses.
<li> The conditions of the GNU AGPL are met with respect to GPL Ghostscript,
including the requirement for propagation of the GPL and the requirement
for delivering (or an offer to deliver) source code.
</ul>
<p>
Regarding this last point, the GPL clearly intends that if the distributor
only offers to provide the GPL Ghostscript source code (as opposed to
actually distributing the source code with every copy of the application),
then they must deliver the source code in a timely way to anyone
requesting it.
<p>
The GPL makes it clear that if someone receives GPL Ghostscript only in
its GPL-licensed form, they only have a right to distribute it if they
comply with the GPL. Artifex Software, Inc., as the copyright holder,
takes this requirement very seriously, and will, if necessary, take
legal action to ensure that anyone distributing GPL Ghostscript with the
GPL complies with the conditions set forth above.
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<p>
<small>Copyright © 2000-2009 Artifex Software, Inc. All rights
reserved.</small>
<p>
This software is provided AS-IS with no warranty, either express or
implied.
This software is distributed under license and may not be copied,
modified or distributed except as expressly authorized under the terms
of the license contained in the file LICENSE in this distribution.
For more information about licensing, please visit
http://www.artifex.com/licensing/
or contact Artifex Software, Inc., 7 Mt. Lassen Drive - Suite A-134,
San Rafael, CA 94903, U.S.A., +1(415)492-9861.
<p>
<small>Ghostscript version 9.14, 26 March 2014
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