License OSL and developing with PS

[Achille Ultor]

Hi to everybody! I need an help about a fact: a firm, that gave me a site on 2017, signed a contract with me, where it affirmed, without a doubt, that ALL the software they sold was their property, because they are creators of all the code, including, therefore, the whole Prestashop platform. In your opinion, is this a copyright infringement? I think they tried to sell a software that they DO NOT build, so they can sell it with a very expensive price. How can I sue them in court? is there a felony in your opinion?

 

[ttoine]

Hello, could you please give more details? This looks like an interesting case.

For the core (OSL):

• If they used PrestaShop as a base, and modified the core, as the open source project software is distributed in OSL, their modifications must be in OSL too. Also, because of the "extended distribution" clause in the license, you should have access to the source code of the shop, including the modifications.

For the modules:

• If they are using custom modules with entire original code written by their team, and they use a restrictive copyright, this might be covered by the contract.
• If you are using the shop via a SaaS offer, this is not mandatory for them to provide the code of the modules.
• If they modified PrestaShop native modules, or modules from Addons,  and you have access to the PHP code (e.g: they run on your server) they must at least provide the original source code: with the AFL license, they can change the license only for their modifications and must tell about the original work if any.

This is of course a resume. If you provide more details about your problem, and also your country, that would help to better understand.

Disclaimer: I am not a lawyer, however I studied in details how the OSL and AFL licenses of the PrestaShop open source project are working, with the help of lawyers and the OSI.