[Ibpsausa] EnergyPlus Licensing Changes

[Linda Lawrie]

EnergyPlus Licensing has changed.

Please see the full description at:
http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/energyplus_licensing.cfm

An excerpt from the website:

EnergyPlus™ licenses are intended to encourage 
the use, improvement, and widespread adoption of 
EnergyPlus. Following is information about the 
licensing framework for EnergyPlus versions 
starting at 7.0, which differs from previous versions in three major ways:
    * No fee executable distribution license. 
There are no fees for use or distribution of 
EnergyPlus in executable form. You may use the 
EnergyPlus executable (either the standalone 
application or the library), combine it with 
other programs, and redistribute it (as either a 
desktop application or a web application), for 
any purpose (commercial or otherwise) free of 
charge. Use of this license requires that you 
refer to the specific EnergyPlus version as "EnergyPlus vX."
    * Open source license. For the first time, 
EnergyPlus is available under an open source 
license. Under this license, which is modeled 
after the Mozilla Public License (MPL) V1.1, you 
may obtain EnergyPlus source code, modify it, 
combine it with other software that is licensed 
under different terms, distribute it, and 
re-license it. The license is "weak copyleft" in 
that it covers only EnergyPlus and its 
modifications going forward. Code that is 
combined with EnergyPlus is not affected. This 
license requires that you distribute the source 
code for EnergyPlus modifications and that you 
refer to the EnergyPlus component of your 
distribution as "a modified version of EnergyPlus 
vX." You may remove the "modified" designation by 
obtaining prior written permission from Berkeley 
Lab. As with any open source license, there is no fee.
    * Less restrictive commercial source license. 
The revised commercial source distribution 
license has been relaxed to permit sub-licensing 
of proprietary modifications to EnergyPlus. Under 
this license, you may obtain EnergyPlus source 
code, modify it, combine it with other software 
that is licensed under different terms, 
distribute it, and re-license it. Unlike the open 
source license, you are not required to make your 
modified EnergyPlus source code available; you 
retain exclusive control over these 
modifications. You are still required to refer to 
your copy of EnergyPlus as "modified." In the new 
licensing framework, this is the only license 
that requires a fee: $10,000 US for the first 
licensed version and $3,000 for major version 
updates. Very few scenarios should require this 
license; the open source license should suit most 
purposes. The fee attached to this license is 
intended to encourage use of the open source 
license, while providing additional rights in cases where they may be needed.

Bug fixes, maintenance releases, and minor 
version releases of EnergyPlus will be made 
available to existing EnergyPlus licensees at no 
additional charge on an "if and when available" 
basis. Obtaining a future major version release 
of EnergyPlus will require a new license. The 
licensing scheme and fee schedule is subject to change for future versions.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.onebuilding.org/pipermail/ibpsausa-onebuilding.org/attachments/20120122/c98d0ef8/attachment.htm>