CI License question

[eluser]trenchard[/eluser]
We have a client that is planning to "patent" a web application. We are looking at building this with CI. Does anyone know if we can "patent" (with full ownership rights) an application build on CI?

Mark

[eluser]pickupman[/eluser]
Better ask your attorney on that, as I don't know to many CI developers who passed the bar exam. In a sense CI is just PHP, so it's kind of like asking if whether or not any PHP project could be patented. Both CI and PHP obviously are open source and free. There is a difference between trademark, copyright, and patent.

[eluser]InsiteFX[/eluser]
I would also speak to EllisLab's about this to make sure it is alright with them.

But no matter what you still need to offer the CodeIgniter Source Code!

InsiteFX

[eluser]trenchard[/eluser]
I'm hoping someone at Ellislab will weigh in here. This is not just PHP as someone pointed out and it is not a matter of free or open source. This is a licensed library with rights assumed or protected. All code of this new project will be distributed with full rights (use, license, resell, modify, etc). The license for CI is beautifully simple, but what that means is that there a lot of ambiguity. Patent attorneys are definitely left with more questions than answers on this.

Any more thoughts?

[eluser]Vheissu[/eluser]
I guess other Codeigniter developers are selling their own projects built on Codeigniter already like iClassEngine or Pancake App. As for patenting an application, that kind of doesn't make sense really. You can patent the idea behind your code (if it's original), but because the application is being written on-top of an open source language like PHP I don't think you can patent the code itself.

I am fairly certain that it would be within the bounds of legality to sell an application with full resell rights as well as modification rights and whatever else. I am not a lawyer however and I would still check. As long as you're distributing Codeigniter and it's licence along with the application and not claiming that you own the Codeigniter library, I honestly don't see any harm.

I don't think patent is the right word, it sounds like you're trying to trademark the source code of your application and the portion that you wrote might be trademark-able.

[eluser]trenchard[/eluser]
Of course you can sell applications built on CI. This is about the right to patent a solution.

The patent request is actually not ours. It is the client's plan to build a process and tool set to patent. They are not looking to resell. They are simply protecting the right to a proprietary solution. I am wondering what rights are available when building a complete CI solution. Obviously the CI library can't be patented, but it will be a foundational part of the solution if we use it.

Ellislab - can anyone clarify the brief license in this regard?

[eluser]pbreit[/eluser]
The CodeIgniter portion of the code would not be part of the patent. You patent the idea, not the implementation. The client's patent attorneys should know this.

[eluser]Vheissu[/eluser]
[quote author="pbreit" date="1286778713"]The CodeIgniter portion of the code would not be part of the patent. You patent the idea, not the implementation. The client's patent attorneys should know this.[/quote]

Exactly what I was trying to tell him in my response, only yours was shorter and easier to understand, lol.

[eluser]Unknown[/eluser]
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[eluser]danmontgomery[/eluser]
The license is very clearly defined at http://ellislab.com/codeigniter/user-guide/license.html... If you're trying to patent something, talk to a patent attorney. I don't really understand the thinking behind asking for or giving legal advice here.