copyright internet software licensing open-source-software
Is a website using behind the scenes software X a &quot;copy&quot; or &quot;substantial portion&quot; of software X?
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MIT license</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Bob finds a nice piece of MIT-licensed software called X. However, this software is way too geeky for the general public to use. Practically, only IT-savvy persons can use it.</p>
<p>Bob builds a website allowing any person to use the software by way of a few clicks. The software is <em>not</em> included in the code that is delivered to the user's web browser. Rather, it runs deep in the woods on the server side on-demand. Bob starts charging money for the service.</p>
<p>Is Bob required to include X's copyright notice on the website? Is the website a &quot;copy&quot; or &quot;substantial portion&quot; of software X?</p>
<p>If the answer is &quot;Yes&quot; and Bob ignores it, how much money the copyright holders could potentially win by taking Bob to the court?</p>
<p>Related: <a href="https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/6466/do-i-need-to-include-the-full-text-of-the-mit-license-in-the-ui-of-my-app">Do I need to include the full text of the MIT license in the UI of my app?</a></p>

<p>The web site appears to be <strong>interacting</strong> with a copy of the MIT-licensed code, which I will call &quot;M&quot;. Neither the site nor the code that displays the site is a copy, but if a copy of M is on Bob's server, it might be considered to be a part of the code that supports or &quot;powers&quot; the site.</p>
<p>In general, calling a separate program does not make that program part of the calling program.</p>
<p>Bob must make sure that the local copy of M contains the required copyright notice and &quot;as-is&quot; notice. As Bob is &quot;using&quot; and not &quot;distributing&quot;  M, that ends his obligations.</p>
<p>It would be good practice and courteous of Bob to include on his web page where M can be invoked &quot;Powered in part by M, written by {M-author}&quot; or some similar notice, but the MIT license does not impose any such requirement. A license could impose such a requirement, but MIT does not.</p>
