Selling Ubuntu Touch Devices and Respecting the License
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Hi, let's say that someone would be thinking of selling Smartphones well-compatible with Ubuntu Touch and having that system preinstalled on them (and unmodified in any way), what would they need to know about the licenses of the project and how to comply with them perfectly to satisfy both the project and the potential seller's need for having a peace of mind?
Note: I do wish to mention that obviously the customer would be informed constructively of benefits and potential drawbacks before purchasing such a device, and they would also be informed that the seller is in no way affiliated with the UBports or the Ubuntu Touch project itself and the system preinstalled is unmodified. Also, some of the seller's profit would happily turn into donations made to the Ubuntu Touch project.
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@Question_Asker https://volla.online. More specifically, https://volla.online/en/operating-systems/ubuntu-touch/. Pretty sure, as far as license goes, you just need to provide the GPL sources and so forth. Trademarks of Ubuntu Touch and UBPorts foundation would be a separate matter, and I have no idea how that is handled for commercial sellers that sell UT devices. Maybe certain assets/names are trademark protected. But as far as code goes, you can take the entire UT stack, slap it on a phone, and sell it, so long as you follow the GPL or other applicable licenses.
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you have to be aware that Ubuntu Touch is in most cases NOT a full operating system, that is, it uses drivers developed for another operating system, Android. These drivers are often proprietary and in this case you have no license to get them from another device and slap them on some random hardware.
Businesses like Volla are certainly Android licenced and as such benefit from the licenses agreement between Google and driver developers (to be clear I think of companies like Mediatek or Qualcomm).
This caveat does not apply if you develop independent hardware such as the Pinephone - that's the exception of the 'most cases' written in my first paragraph.
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Sorry, I forgot to mention that the plan is for Ubuntu Touch to be pre-installed onto lightly used Android smartphones already available on the market, and there is no plan of manufacturing hardware or anyhow building products such as smartphones on the hardware level.
Does your advice still apply in this situation?
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Unfortunately, there is no prior experience here with redistributing FOSS in any form, and that means there is no experience in how to comply with the licenses in the best ways possible for both parties. Any explanation of how to comply in practice in this specific situation, would be greatly appreciated.
For example, does "providing GPL sources" mean that a seller is supposed to provide a link to the source code of Ubuntu Touch in some form, or is there a need for maintaining an always up-to-date mirror just to redistribute a device which has Ubuntu Touch pre-installed? Another question would be of whether Ubuntu Touch does not provide a link to the source code in one of its default menus and therefore redistributing such operating system pre-installed without any modifications could come with a potential satisfiable solution by default.
As I kind of mentioned before, any help is and will be truly and fully appreciated.
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partly, as the problem shifts then to the resale laws in your country.
There are some countries where laws are protecting first-time sellers against competition from second hand resellers, there is some justification for that because original sellers can face warranty questions in case of problems while they have no involvement with modifications done by second hand resellers. -
Fortunately, the country in which the store would operate has a strong second-hand market for many types of merchandise, including electronic devices, and fairly positive laws in this regard. So that would not be an issue. Thank you very much for your reply. I appreciate it.
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