Is it legal?

[Boeing]

Is it legal to receive a copy of orbiter from another member ie giving you a copy of their orbiter game with the addons they installed? I really want to know if it is legal and if so could anyone pm or e-mail me a copy of their orbiter game mine works it just has become a cluttered mess with many thing's that cause it to crash.


Thanks so much and please remember I want to know first if it is legal to do this?

 

[pete.dakota]

Oribter (and all it's addons) are free, so it's legal.

 

[Coolhand]

I'm pretty sure that you're not allowed to "redistribute" copies of orbiter or it's addons... Sending a copy to a friend is redistributing, but it's not like you're putting it up on a server somewhere or making money off it. I don't think the FBI will be busting down your door for doing this. And though not technically 'legal', erm, who cares? it's not morally wrong, no ones pockets are being hurt as long as no money is changing hands for the installation, etc.

Why don't you just start with a clean installation though? if you get someone elses it might not work properly either... Start clean, its the best way... you can always backup your orbiter folder before you add other addons.

 

[Urwumpe]

It is legal - as long as you don't do it professional.

 

[Boeing]

What is a clean install?

 

[Mafuskas]

As long as you are not making money off another person's work, then have at it.

I do believe that Orbiter itself specifically states that you may charge only what is needed to cover the costs of distribution and nothing more.

 

[Kaito]

A clean install is just the base version, no addons

 

[computerex]

That is correct, it is legal to redistribute Orbiter if you are not doing it for commercial reasons, however the add-on developers hold the copyright for their respective add-ons, and some might not be happy with their add-on being distributed without their knowledge. However this has happened in the past, Mustard I believe still hosts his Orbiter 2005 installation.

In any case, Boeng, if your Orbiter installation is too cluttered, why not do a re-install yourself? Make sure you use a add-on management tool to delay the next time you have to reinstall.

 

[ar81]

The problem of redistributing addons is that addons have their own licenses.
This is why you do not see packs of addons, because each author packs his addon which needs other addon that you need to download separately.

My addons allow personal and non commercial use only. If my addons were used by someone for other purpose, that person would be violating the license.

 

[GregBurch]

Just in case anyone thinks I might have a legal opinion about this -- I don't. I try to know what I don't know, and intellectual property law is definitely in that category.

 

[Boeing]

Ok I will do a reinstall with an addon manager


Thanks so much everyone

 

[Zatnikitelman]

Perhaps the community could come up with a standard Orbiter Addon License so developers don't have to come up with their own. It wouldn't be a requirement for addons of course.

 

[dbeachy1]

I'm all for that -- provided, of course that the new "Standard Addon License" agrees word-for-word with the license terms of my XR craft. :lol:

Hence, the need for separate add-on license terms by each add-on author. Some authors are OK with redistribution of their work and some aren't. And that's OK.

Seriously, though, the danger of having a published set of "Standard Add-on License Terms" is that many people will assume that all add-ons use those terms and won't think about looking for add-on terms in each add-on's documentation.

 

[ar81]

There are no standards on addon licenses.
The best is to ask authors for permission.

 

[Coolhand]

If in doubt, don't do it... either it states explicitly that you can redistribute the addon or it doesn't and you ask permission first. People have the right to control their own IP, if that means that you can only get it from their webpage or places that they decide to distribute it then so be it. You have to respect the people who are doing this for you all, for free, and not everyone will want free redistribution and there are a number of good reasons for this.... One important one is that if you're continually developing something then you'll want to take your old version down and put the new version up, in that case you don't want the old version floating around the net which means that people will be using the inferior version, be reporting the same old bugs that were fixed ages ago, etc.

 

[Sherrif of Nottingham]

Oops... um...

I'm guilty... I had a version of orbiter installed on my flash drive, and my friend "borrowed" the files onto his desktop. Of course the only addon's were Orbiter Sound, And DGIV... not to be rude, but I would have suggested that he download it himself, and find those addons in the "Recommended Addons" Topic, really I just saved him a step.

:sorry::sorry::sorry: Sorry Dan:sorry::sorry::sorry:

 

[dbeachy1]

If an add-on's license terms prohibit redistribution then it should not be redistributed: redistribution rights and copyright terms are set by each add-on's author regardless of users' opinions. Yes, there are thousands of add-ons available for Orbiter, but that doesn't change the fact that add-on developers have the right to set the terms of use for their add-ons. Making profit or not making profit isn't the point (and in fact I don't know of any add-ons making profit) -- the point is to not have obsolete versions of an author's add-on floating around out there without the author's consent.

If someone wants to create an add-on pack, that's great -- however, please respect the rights of the add-on developers and request the author's permission to redistribute his add-on before just adding it to the pack, redistributing it, and then "asking for forgiveness" later. By the time that happens the damage has already been done: an add-on pack with an obsolete version of the author's add-on would already be "in the wild," and it would be difficult if not impossible to reverse. Then the author is saddled with bogus bug reports or feature requests for things that were already fixed or implemented in a newer version.

 

[Tex]

Administrator Note:

No one is allowed to post any addons on this site for download without specific written permission from the developer, this includes any and all addons included in a "bundle pack."

Anyone who posts addons for download without written permission from the developer for each addon will have their account suspended or possibly terminated and the file(s) will be removed.