HACKER Q&A
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Derivative product license that forbids use of FOSS version?


My team is using an Apache 2.0-licensed FOSS project in one of our products. We've recently learned that a different division of our very large company has purchased a commercial license for a product which is a derivative of the same underlying Apache 2.0 FOSS project that we're using. We're being told that we must stop using the FOSS project because our company got a discount on said commercial license by agreeing to cease all use of the FOSS version.

Had anyone encountered this before? Is this a common practice? The scenario seems bizarre to me and I'm surprised that it's allowed.

  👤 pipo234 Accepted Answer ✓
Is there a difference between the products, or is it just the Apache versus commercial license? Ie. will you be able, but not allowed, to view and make changes to the commercial product?

I can think of a couple of reasons why the company might suggest this; the most obvious being that they don't need to guess how many instances your enterprise is using. Whether it makes sense to you and whether the Apache license allows for that kind of legalese is still another matter.

[PS.] you might want to add an "Ask HN:" prefix to your submission subject line