Licensing Questions

[Baatezu]

I've searched the forums, and this type of question seems to come up on occasion.

I'm developing a module for DNN and using the telerik controls.

I want to sell said module, such as on snowcovered.

I'm not going to be selling it for a thousand+, I was figuring a price < $100.

This has the potential of putting the telerik controls 'available' at 1/10th the cost if I do nothing different than I do with my own sites; I, of course, want to avoid this.

Anyway - I was wondering what I can do to secure the controls, perhaps something similar for the AJAX version that is available here for the ASP.NET version so that I can distribute a non-trial version with the module.

I sent an email to [e-mail] requesting guidelines, but at about 40 hours after, I haven't gotten a response, so I'm bringing up licensing in the forums. :)

I've never done anything like this, and while the Instructions.doc that come with the source code may give all the required information to pull it off, I'm gonna need it in a slightly more step by step to make sure I don't miss something.

Things I'd like to get for this

1. Step by Step insctructions to 'bind' the DLL to my module

2. Pricing recommendations depending on 'binding' level

I know (based on previous posts) that Telerik isn't going to care if I give my module away with the trial DLL; nor will they particularly mind if I sell it for $2000 with the full version DLL

I think I'm missing something here... but I'll leave it at this for now.

[Zoinky]

this is a excellent question, to even add to this.
say we buy the license, we use it to develop a commercial product.. (all nice and good)
then since we own a license and its unlimited to one developer, what if i develop another product and make it open source and give away the product for free, potentially sending ur UI.DLL out for free, yes i know other developers arent SUPPOSE to ever use ur dll because they arent licensed, but from my prespective I dont want to get in trouble for giving away ur dll for free,

[Baatezu]

In the case of giving away a product, use the trial DLL.
I believe I saw that as their preference in a post while I was searching the forums on redistribution.

From my searching this is the impression that I got about releasing a product using the telerik controls:
1. Don't make your product available with a Telerik DLL in a useable form outside your application for less than the purchase price of the Telerik control.
2. Don't release a product using a Telerik control that performs the same basic functionality. An example for this is creating a menu for DotNetNuke using the RadMenu.
3. Have an 'about' box that says you are using telerik controls.
4. Do what you can to let your users know they are not allowed to use the Telerik DLL outside your product.
5. Do what you can to prevent your users from using the Telerik DLL at outside your product.

I think that's a clean way to summarize my understanding, and to easily point out that I need help with #5. :) I think this type of summary was what I was missing in the OP.

[Lidiya]

Hello Baatezu,

Thank you for your forum post. We appreciate your interest in Telerik controls.

Our developer licenses offer redistribution rights but there are a set of requirements that need to be met. One of the key prerequisites for redistribution of our software is that our software may not be distributed as part of products that have the same or substantially the same primary functionality as our software. SharePoint WebParts and DNN modules created based on our software would have substantially the same primary functionality and therefore such redistribution is not allowed (no matter what the price is). Here is an excerpt of our End-User License Agreement with the example explaining the 'significant functionality' property:

"The SOFTWARE may not be distributed as part of products that have the same or substantially the same primary functionality as the SOFTWARE. (Example for RadControls for ASP.NET: you may purchase TELERIK RadEditor for ASP.NET and create a blog application/component. However, you cannot wrap RadMenu and offer it as a SharePoint WebPart or DNN menu skin object, since its primary functionality would be substantially the same as the SOFTWARE). "

We hope the provided information was helpful. Let us know if we can assist you further.

P.S. For all interested in the redistribution rights provided with our developer licenses, please review the "Redistribution Rights" and "Source Code" sections of our End-User License Agreement, or e-mail us directly at [e-mail]. 

Regards,
Lidiya
the Telerik team

Check out Telerik Trainer, the state of the art learning tool for Telerik products.

[Baatezu]

I had a whole bunch of scattered thoughts written out - but I think I can get the basic answer I am looking for with a single question:

Could a blog module (for DNN) using the ASP.NET AJAX controls be sold?

I could ramble a bit with examples and such; But this should be a good starting point.

[Lidiya]

Hello Baatezu,

Thank you for your follow-up.

Could you please send us a demo of your blog module for DNN - we will be glad to review it and tell whether it adds significant functionality. If yes, then we will provide you with the necessary steps to ensure our products' DLLs are protected. 

In addition, please specify how would you be eventually redistributing the blog module for DNN - as a stand-alone product or as part of a toolset? What would the price be in either of the described scenarios? In case the blog module for DNN would be distributed as part of a toolset, what would the other components in the suite be?

We will be looking forward to hearing back from you.

Sincerely yours,
Lidiya
the Telerik team

Check out Telerik Trainer, the state of the art learning tool for Telerik products.

[Baatezu]

The module I'm developing isn't a blog module, I was just using that as an example since it is in the EULA. :) It's a module to streamline and simplify the administration of a DotNetNuke installation.

I will send (via the support ticket relating to this thread) a demo of the module when it is a little farther along. It won't be a finished product, but the general idea of what it is designed to do will be there. It is right now, but I still have a couple of things I want to get implemented first. :) I want my products to shine, even early on. :-D

It will be a standalone product.
I haven't finalized the price. Once I get some additional key functionality in I'm going to try to get some people to review it and get price feedback about what they think they would pay for it.

My initial thoughts on prices were going to be along the lines of $49 for a version that would ship with the Trial Telerik DLL. (this would be, mostly, for the people who already have the telerik controls). This value is pretty set, it might go as high as $99, but since it will still only have the trial DLL I don't think the concern about that is going to be very high. :)

I'm thinking between $149 and $299 for the module with the protected DLL. I might go as high as $499, but that depends on the feedback I get about the module.

[Baatezu]

Would a link to the module be sufficient for a demo?

[Lidiya]

Hello Baatezu,

Thank you for the additional details.

If you are to ship the module with trial versions of our controls it would be okay even if the module is not adding significant functionality. However, in order to ship it with the protected Telerik DLLs, the module must offer additional features which would greatly distinguish its functionality from that of Telerik controls.

Yes, a link to the module will be sufficient for a demo, so please send the link along. 

Thanks and looking forward to hearing back from you.

Greetings,
Lidiya
the Telerik team

Check out Telerik Trainer, the state of the art learning tool for Telerik products.

[Baatezu]

To keep this thread up to date - I just sent a link to my demo via a related support ticket.

The module is not ready to face the real world yet, so it's not here.

[Marcus]

This thread is a bit older, and I confess I don't know what the status of DNN was in 2008, but the latest versions (I believe v5+) include - what I'm assuming to be - a licensed version of the Telerik AJAX controls. Obviously these are licensed to DNN and not to "me", but the question here is, what if I develop a DNN module (for resale) that leverages the controls?

In this case the resale package would not include any Telerik components, it would rely on what's already existing in DNN. Other modules in the DNN store appear to be doing just this (for example using the wysiwyg editor in their DNN modules), but I'd like to get some clarification before I spend time on development.



Thx in advance!



M.

[Rumen]

Hello,

Please check the table below which provide information about the special requirements under which DNN Modules are developed using Telerik controls:

The table below shows the development and deployment scenarios and the restrictions that should be observed

Developer Scenario	Community Edition Deployment	Professional Edition Deployment
Community Edition Developer creates Module using "wrappers"	Allowed	Allowed
Commercial Edition Developer creates Module using "wrappers"	Allowed	Allowed
Community Edition Developer creates Module using Telerik RadControls directly	Not Allowed*	Not Allowed*. Even though you  are running on Commercial Edition, the original developer do not have rights to develop the Module using Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX directly (because they were using Community Edition)
Commercial Edition Developer creates Module using Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX directly	Allowed. The original developer had rights to develop using Telerik directly (through their Commercial Edition license) so usage of the Module is allowed.	Allowed
Developer who has purchased a valid Telerik Developer License creates a Module using Telerik RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX directly	Allowed. If a developer purchased a valid dev license from Telerik, there are no restrictions on usage. However the developer is not allowed to redistribute the Telerik DLLs with their Module package - they need to exclude it and rely on the DLLs which exists in the DotNetNuke framework.	Allowed

*unless you are an existing Telerik customer and hold a RadControls for ASP.NET AJAX license

You can find more information in the Telerik DNN partnership FAQ.

Please, note that you can freely redistribute only the trial version of Telerik.Web.UI.dll. To redistribute dev Telerik AJAX assembly with shrink-wrapped software (packaged products), you need to conform to the guidelines for Telerik.Web.UI assembly protection explained here.

Best regards,
Rumen
Telerik