6 messages in com.googlegroups.google-gadgets-apiRe: Can I make money from an idea or ...| From | Sent On | Attachments |
|---|---|---|
| 49er | 19 Sep 2006 12:30 | |
| Matt | 19 Sep 2006 14:07 | |
| Jim Darcel | 19 Sep 2006 15:56 | |
| Justin McConnell | 19 Sep 2006 16:19 | |
| Jim Darcel | 20 Sep 2006 00:54 | |
| Simon | 28 Sep 2006 08:31 |
| Subject: | Re: Can I make money from an idea or gadget? |
|---|---|
| From: | Simon (wate...@gmail.com) |
| Date: | 09/28/2006 08:31:09 AM |
| List: | com.googlegroups.google-gadgets-api |
Justin McConnell wrote:
The Terms of Service forbid you from charging for access to your gadget.
From the API Terms of Service at http://www.google.com/apis/homepage/terms.html "Subject to the provisions in these API Terms and Conditions, you may develop, display and/or distribute your gadgets as part of a commercial or non-commercial enterprise, and you may develop gadgets for use in accessing paid content or services. However, you may not charge users any separate fee for the use of the gadget as part of the Google Personalized Homepage. If you wish to sell or distribute gadgets for payment, you must enter into a separate agreement with Google or obtain Google's written permission".
This seems awfully vague to those of us not use to legalese.
I don't see where the line is drawn.
I've written a module that allows quick login (one click) to a commercial site. Obviously I don't want to charge for that module, but it is pretty useless if you don't pay for an account at the site in question. I assume that is fine since we wouldn't charge a separate fee for the use of the gadget (you can have "your account is expired" messages for free), it is merely accessing premium content.
Similarly it implies I can supply a module that providers access to premium content (say a betting tips feed). Obviously there is a fee for the feed, and you put some authentication detail into the module, and it feeds premium content. But since the module itself is free, I assume that is fine.
Is the restriction thus intended to avoid having modules that can't be freely inspected (as Google T&C implies you can borrow ruthlessly from other modules -- which as a free software fan suits me fine). OR to avoid people finding they can't access their home page?
Some example of where Google expect to draw the line, and enter an agreement would be helpful I think, even if they aren't legally binding.