Licensing is Hard
I’m stumped. Here’s what I want:
- I want people to be able to customize my product
- I want people to be able to make money selling their customizations
- I want people to make money off their customization services
- I want people that have purchased a license to be able to use the product as long as they want
Here’s what I don’t want:
- I don’t want to create competitors by allowing them to take my product and sell it for a lower price
- This may or may not mean I don’t want people redistributing my product
- I want my product to live on. It shouldn’t be tied too strongly to me or my company.
To create more value than I capture I want others to get involved in, invest in, and benefit (profit) from my product.
What I’m particularly worried about are shops with more marketing-savvy and/or more customer reach; I don’t want to help them put me out of business. There is so much competition in this space, I can see it happening if I’m stupid.
Some of the normal arguments against restricting redistribution and derivative works are:
- Would-be competitors won’t take the time, nor will they have the agility, to take my product and make it their own before I can succeed
- The peer-review benefit gained from open sourcing and encouraging distribution will pay off
I’m not convinced (yet).