Good grief.
I've read the Distribution License Agreement twice now. I'm not a lawyer, so maybe I am missing something but, in general, I find that this Agreement:
- Does not appear to restrict what a reasonable person would consider "normal" use of the software
- Imposes several burdensome, ancillary restrictions
- Is ambiguous with respect to my customer's intended use case
I will refrain from itemizing the myriad questions that I have with respect to the full Agreement, and instead focus on a few points related to #3 above. To start, please allow me to ask about a comment in your previous post:
"It's less about distributing, it's more about who is bound by license terms and who gets the right to use."
I ran a test on our home PC by installing Reader using my account, then opening the app using a family member's account. I accepted the Terms and Conditions on the download page (I know that this is a different agreement than the Distribution License Agreement; bear with me). When I opened the app using the family member account, however, I was not presented with any Terms and Conditions language, and could just start using the software.
In this case, is the family member bound by the Terms and Conditions? If so, how do they know, and when did they accept them?
This is relevant because this test simulates the same workflow that my customer wants to follow - have an administrator install the software, and end users use that software. If the act of the administrator accepting the agreement implies that end users are automatically bound by it, I think that would be fine for our environment.
So, what does the Agreement say about this use case? Honestly, I'm not sure. Most of it talks about actually "distributing" the software, in the conventional sense of the word - from a file server, on CD, bundled with a vendor's product... None of these cases apply; we're just seeking to install and use it locally, not to distribute it - even within the customer's company.
There is one section (2.3, Server Use) that may apply to us, but it is rife with ambiguity. I'm going to include the text of that short section here, for reference:
"2.3 Server Use. Distributor may install one copy of the Software on a computer file server within Distributor’s Intranet for the sole and exclusive purpose of allowing use of the Software from an unlimited number of client computers on Distributor’s Intranet via (a) the Network File System (NFS) for UNIX versions of the Software, (b) Windows Terminal Services, (c) Citrix, or (d) similar support virtualization technology. Unless otherwise expressly permitted hereunder, no other server or network use of the Software is permitted. By way of example, the foregoing does not permit Distributor to serve the Software as an element of an Intranet or Internet hosted service."
My questions include:
- What does it mean to "install... on a computer file server" - actually installing the application on a computer that happens to be a file server, or putting a copy of the installer on the file server so other users can access it and install it on their own machines?
- Are we literally only allowed to "install one copy" in the entire enterprise?
- Do "client computers" include other servers, specifically our jump server?
- What exactly are we allowed to do on the "Windows Terminal Services" host, and how does that relate to the aforementioned "file server"?
- Does our intended use case violate the "no other server or network use" restriction?
I'm not trying to pick a fight - I truly don't understand what this paragraph describes, and am seeking to understand it.
Likewise, I'm unclear as to whether our environment qualifies as an "Intranet", as used here, and as defined in Section 1.1(E). We are planning to run this on a virtual machine in a public cloud environment. Note that by "public cloud" I mean something like AWS or Azure, and not a "private cloud" run from the customer's own data center. The jump server will reside in the public cloud environment, but will only be accessible by the customer's staff, per typical cloud authentication methods. Strictly speaking, however, this isn't the "Distributor's internal network" as stated in Section 1.1(E); it's the cloud provider's network, and our users - and only our users - will access it over the internet. Basically, we're doing normal cloud stuff, but the dated language in the definition does not appear to contemplate this modern scenario (or, again, I'm just reading it wrong).
There are plenty of other potential spoilers in this Agreement, not the least of which being Section 7, which may allow Adobe access to the customer's internal environment (which is explicitly disclaimed in Exhibit B for AIR and Flash Player, but not for Reader). I'll leave those for another post, if we get that far.
For the moment, I'd like to understand:
- Does our use case actually require a Distribution License?
- If so, does the Distribution License Agreement allow what we intend to do?
Thank you for your continued help.
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