The ePostRx Open Source License policy is fairly easy to understand. Our software is 100% GPL (General Public License); if yours is 100% GPL compliant, then you have no obligation to pay us for the licenses. This is a great opportunity for the open source community and those of you who are developing open source software.

The formal terms of the GPL license can be found in the GNU General Public License. Please note that the General Public License can be restrictive, so if it doesn't meet your needs, you are better served by our Commercial License.

Specifically:

1. ePostRx is free use for those who are 100% GPL. If your application is licensed under GPL or compatible OSI license approved by ANSHealth, you are free to ship any GPL software of ANSHealth with your application ('application' means any type of software application, system, tool or utility). You do not need a separate signed agreement with ANSHealth, because the GPL license is sufficient. We do, however, recommend you contact us as there usually are good opportunities for partnership and co-marketing.
2. Under the Open Source License, you must release the complete source code for the application that is built on ePostRx. You do not need to release the source code for components that are generally installed on the operating system on which your application runs, such as system header files or libraries.
3. Free use for those who never copy, modify or distribute. As long as you never distribute the ePostRx Software in any way, you are free to use it for powering your application, irrespective of whether your application is under GPL license or not.
4. You are allowed to modify ePostRx Software source code any way you like as long as the distributed derivative work is licensed under the GPL as well.
5. You are allowed to copy ePostRx binaries and source code, but when you do so, the copies will fall under the GPL license.
   
   Note: If your use of ePostRx does not require a commercial  license, but you like ePostRx and want to encourage further development, you are certainly welcome to purchase a license or ePostRx support. If you use ePostRx in a commercial context such that you profit by its use, we ask that you further the development of ePostRx by purchasing some level of support. We feel if ePostRx helps your pharmacy business, it's reasonable to ask that you help ePostRx.
    

*Note: All packages are available for distribution via CD for $80. If your bandwidth is limited and you don't want to wait for lengthy downloads, you can purchase all you need to get started with ePostRx on a single CD!  CD also includes IntelliJ 5.0+ IDE project information(.ipr) just like our ePostRx developers use and other surprises! Just add it to your cart.

  IMPORTANT - Proprietary Vendor APIs

Although ePostRx is free and 100% GPL, there are a few vendor proprietary APIs and source code files (~10) that are not included in the final GPL software bundle. These files were intentionally omitted because of non-disclosure agreements currently enforced between ANSHealth and third party vendors who would not allow ANSHealth to bundle their associated code. These areas include:

1. Drug Database Interface (Medispan, First Databank...)
2. Interactive Voice Recognition (Telemanager,Ateb, Voice Tech...)
3. Auto Fulfillment (McKesson,ScriptPro,ProRata,AutoMed...)

If you wish to gain access to these files, you will need to purchase a commercial license so ANSHealth can enforce these agreements. However, ANSHealth would suggest that the community pressure those company's mentioned above to release their APIs/specifications to the ePostRx community for future GPL releases. ANSHealth believes most of  these APIs or specifications are just conduits to their actual Intellectual Property (data or hardware) and should be made available to the community. For example, it's not like we're asking them to make available the Drug Database data or specifications on the IVR or fulfillment hardware, just the APIs to access it!

Most of the support jars are included in the software bundle and are available for free and licensed under various Open Source licenses (GNU GPL, LGPL, Apache, BSD etc..). With exception to those proprietary vendors listed above, the other jars you will need to download to build ePostRx are the following:

1. Swiss Sql One API
2. Quartz Scheduler

Non-Profits, Academic Institutions, and Private Individuals

If you represent a non-profit organization or an academic institution, we recommend you publish your application as an open source / free software project using the GPL license. Thereby, you are free to use ePostRx software free of charge under the GPL license. We believe that if you have strong reasons to not publish your application in accordance with the GPL, you should purchase commercial licenses.

If you are a private individual you are free to use ePostRx software for your personal applications as long as you do not distribute them. If you distribute them, you must make a decision between the Commercial License and the GPL.

Please note that even if you ship a free demo version of your own application, the above rules apply.

Recommendations

Please note that ANSHealth can only give advice on which license is right for you. The final judgment, of course can be made only by a court of law. With that said, we recommend the commercial license to all commercial and government organizations. This frees you from the broad and strict requirements of the GPL license.

To all free software enthusiasts we recommend our products under the GPL license. .

To anyone in doubt, we recommend the commercial license. It is never wrong. Thanks to our cost-effective way of producing software, we are able to sell our commercial licenses at prices well under the industry average.

What is ANSHealth's position on Software Patents?

ANSHealth has consistently taken the position that software patents generally impede innovation in software development and that software patents are inconsistent with open source/free software. At the same time, we are forced to live in the world as it is, and that world currently permits software patents. A relatively small number of very large companies have amassed large numbers of software patents. One defense against such misuse is to develop a corresponding portfolio of software patents for defensive purposes. Many software companies, both open source and proprietary, pursue this strategy. In the interests of our company and in an attempt to protect and promote the open source community, ANSHealth has elected to adopt this same stance. We do so reluctantly because of the perceived inconsistency with our stance against software patents; however, prudence dictates this position.

Still confused?

If you have any questions about Licensing, please checkout our License FAQ or contact the ANSHealth Sales Team to explore the options available for your specific scenario.

OSI = Open Source Initiative, www.opensource.org/licenses
GPL = GNU General Public License, www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html