Pro Tools 10 Academic Questions

[catalin rasvan]

Within Avid Software License Agreement document, at point 3.5, there is the following sentence:
Academic Use. If the software is designated or specially-priced as an
"Academic" or "Education" version, it is licensed only for use by students,
faculty, and staff of an educational institution.
Because in this paragraph, only the person who has the right to use an academic software is specified,
and not also what the person could do with it, my question is if I, as a university teacher, can use this software
for a commercial purpose also, or only for academic purpose?
In case I am allowed to use it only for academic purpose, although this issue is not clearly specified
at point 3.5 from the Avid Software License Agreement document, I wish I knew what is the procedure by which I can move
from the academic version to the full version. I initially had Pro Tools 9 FULL which I eventually upgraded to
Pro Tools 10 Academic. If I want to move from 10 Academic I want to know how, or if I want to move from 10 Academic
to the next version, let's say Pro Tools 11, what should I do?
Thank you in advance,
Catalin Rasvan

[zedhed]

My interpretation is that the academic version cannot be used for commercial use, otherwise why would there be two different versions available (the academic version being cheaper).

The word 'Academic' strongly suggests for teaching and learning purposes only. Having said that there is a difference between cannot and should not. I don't know whether there is any restrictions built into the Academic version which facilitates this difference or whether it is left to user discretion.

As for upgrade paths from academic, I'm not sure but I know someone out there will know.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by zedhed

My interpretation is that the academic version cannot be used for commercial use, otherwise why would there be two different versions available (the academic version being cheaper).

The word 'Academic' strongly suggests for teaching and learning purposes only. Having said that there is a difference between cannot and should not. I don't know whether there is any restrictions built into the Academic version which facilitates this difference or whether it is left to user discretion.

As for upgrade paths from academic, I'm not sure but I know someone out there will know.

Nope, there is no restriction I am aware of that prohibits an academic license for "commercial use".

You can use software for any purpose, not restricted by other laws, not infringing other parties rights or not otherwise specifically forbidden in the license agreement.

The only requirements on obtaining an academic license I am aware of are listed here http://www.avid.com/US/resources/Academic-Eligibility (things may be different in other locations).

The current Avid EULA is at http://www.avid.com/US/about-avid/legal-notices/legal-enduserlicense2.

And from that EULA:

3.5. Academic Use. If the software is designated or specially-priced as an "Academic" or "Education" version, it is licensed only for use by students, faculty, and staff of an educational institution.

That itself does not restricts the type of use of an academic license just who can use it--that person must be a student. There is no sane legal way to read this as also restricting use to be within or only associated with that educational institution or for non-commercial use only.

And if I was Avid I'd just not bother to worry about use cases, its too hard to enforce, too open to confusion, and maybe its all good overall if some students manage to use a validly obtained student license for a little commercial work. I'd be more concerned about 1. saturating the academic market with Pro Tools and 2. keeping academic licenses out of completely unqualified purchasers.

But what would be forbidden for example is a commercial studio somehow obtaining an academic license and installing that in a recoding studio and having somebody (not currently a student) using that software. And that could even get fuzzy, what if the student the software is licensed to is sitting there doing nothing but watching and learning?

So lets not assume anything, read the EULA that comes with your software and if something is not specially forbidden then you should be free to do it. if you have a specific question post the exact text here from relevant agreement... and I am sure that can get kicked around here (but nobody here is likely to be able to give you solid legal advice).


Darryl

ps. I'm not a lawyer but I've written or revised many software EULAs in my time...