Monitor calibrator software licenses

[Ruby Rod]

If you've ever read the software license from the main calibrator suppliers, they're clear as mud concerning what you can and can't calibrate. Do you own the monitor? Can you calibrate a friends monitor? Can you calibrate your monitor at your desk where you work? Can you provide a calibration service for pay? What constitutes an actual business doing that?

You don't own the software, but you own the puck (I think). Does the company have any say if you use open source software instead of theirs? What about third party software that loads directly into the monitor LUT when supported?

Does anybody pay the slightest attention to the limitations? Do the companies care or did they just find a bunch of lawyers to write the most restrictive terms possible?

OK, that's a lot of questions, but I'm curious what people say/think/do.

 

[IanYorke]

If you've ever read the software license from the main calibrator suppliers, they're clear as mud concerning what you can and can't calibrate. Do you own the monitor? Can you calibrate a friends monitor? Can you calibrate your monitor at your desk where you work? Can you provide a calibration service for pay? What constitutes an actual business doing that?

You don't own the software, but you own the puck (I think). Does the company have any say if you use open source software instead of theirs? What about third party software that loads directly into the monitor LUT when supported?

Does anybody pay the slightest attention to the limitations? Do the companies care or did they just find a bunch of lawyers to write the most restrictive terms possible?

OK, that's a lot of questions, but I'm curious what people say/think/do.

 

[Ruby Rod]

No, you rarely "own" software, just the right to use it. To get it you likely agreed to a bunch of terms not always favorable, but you have no choice but to agree. Not many bother to read the fine print!

 

[BobKnDP]

No, you rarely "own" software, just the right to use it. To get it you likely agreed to a bunch of terms not always favorable, but you have no choice but to agree. Not many bother to read the fine print!

I wonder whether a similar license applies to hardware?

Calibrite's "Profiler" software calls home and checks the serial number of the colorimeter. If it's an old X-Rite copy, they want $10 to allow you to run the software. (They call it an "upgrade".) AFAIK, they don't restrict the number of machines that colorimeter may be used on with their software.

 

[IanYorke]

No, you rarely "own" software, just the right to use it. To get it you likely agreed to a bunch of terms not always favorable, but you have no choice but to agree. Not many bother to read the fine print!

True, but in practical terms it rarely matters and I certainly don't worry about it. YMMV.

Ian

 

[jpegman]

ou own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want.

Ian

Not so fast on calibrating whatever you want.

I recall Jose Rodriguez (JToolman) bought an X-Rite i! profiler, and use₫ to offer it as service for $25 (?) to anyone who wanted their printer system custom ICC calibrated for ink & paper. You printed a calibration print on your paper/ink and sent it Jose for evaluation with Jose' i! hardware/software and he would sent you back your custom ICC profile.

After awhile, he stopped offering the service because X-Rite threatened legal action! He was told that owning the i! system does not give him the right to provide a custom profile service - he needed a special license from X-Rite for that and it was both to $$$ and to much of a hassle.

Jpegman

--
Epson P800

 

[IanYorke]

ou own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want.

Ian

Not so fast on calibrating whatever you want.

I recall Jose Rodriguez (JToolman) bought an X-Rite i! profiler, and use₫ to offer it as service for $25 (?) to anyone who wanted their printer system ICC calibrated.

After awhile, he stopped offering the service because X-Rite threatened legal action! He was told that owning the i! system does not give him the right to provide a custom profile - he needed a special license from X-Rite for that and it was both to $$$ and to much of a hassle.

Jpegman

using your personal calibrator for a business seems like an unreasonable action to me. YMMV

Ian

 

[BobKnDP]

ou own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want.

Ian

Not so fast on calibrating whatever you want.

I recall Jose Rodriguez (JToolman) bought an X-Rite i! profiler, and use₫ to offer it as service for $25 (?) to anyone who wanted their printer system ICC calibrated.

After awhile, he stopped offering the service because X-Rite threatened legal action! He was told that owning the i! system does not give him the right to provide a custom profile - he needed a special license from X-Rite for that and it was both to $$$ and to much of a hassle.

Jpegman

using your personal calibrator for a business seems like an unreasonable action to me. YMMV

Ian

"You own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want."

Re: Monitor calibrator software licenses: Retouching Forum: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 

[Abbott Schindler]

using your personal calibrator for a business seems like an unreasonable action to me. YMMV

Ian

"You own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want."

Well, yes and no. You indeed own the hardware, although it may have come with license conditions.

However you don’t own the software—you have a license to use it. And that license has loads of terms that don’t impact most users, but may limit what you can do with the software. So if you’re going to run a business as Ian described, you’d best read any licenses carefully.

But gosh; if you’re just calibrating your own display(s) and maybe a few friends’, there probably isn’t a problem. Just be discrete.

 

[NAwlins Contrarian]

No, you rarely "own" software, just the right to use it. To get it you likely agreed to a bunch of terms not always favorable, but you have no choice but to agree. Not many bother to read the fine print!

I wonder whether a similar license applies to hardware?

In this day and age, there is almost no such thing as only hardware. I'd bet that both of my X-Rite devices have some sort of firmware or something that has to 'run' inside the device to operate it, even if I were to use Argyll or similar instead of X-Rite or Calibrite software.

And the same is true of any semi-modern car, and lots of other things. It would not surprise me at all if my dishwasher and clothes washer have more computing power than the first computer I owned. Probably my car, and certainly my phone (the only operational phone I own, we don't have a landline at home), have more computing power, and a fair amount of firmware, operating system, and built-in software, than Apollo 11 took to the moon. And most, maybe every bit, of that software claims to be subject to an end-user license agreement (EULA) limiting what I can do with it. With a dishwasher or clothes washer I can argue pretty well that I never agreed to the EULA, only a contract of sale not subject to anything other than the conditions implied-in-law in my jurisdictions. With our phones I'm pretty sure we had to check off and enter something saying we agree.

 

[graybalanced]

You own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want.

I see what you're getting at, but obviously we don't own the software from a legal point of view but that's already been hashed out in other replies. What you are getting at is actually this idea:

"You possess the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want."

The theory there is since they are in your hands, you do whatever you can get away with until somebody notices that you are actually violating the software license. Which, admittedly, is a popular notion regardless of the product.

Of course, that is why we have DRM and copy protection…we users proved that we ignore legal details (e.g. the speed limit) when we think no one's watching who can enforce it. It's just a human thing, happens in every society.

 

[BobKnDP]

using your personal calibrator for a business seems like an unreasonable action to me. YMMV

Ian

"You own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want."

Well, yes and no. You indeed own the hardware, although it may have come with license conditions.

However you don’t own the software—you have a license to use it. And that license has loads of terms that don’t impact most users, but may limit what you can do with the software. So if you’re going to run a business as Ian described, you’d best read any licenses carefully.

But gosh; if you’re just calibrating your own display(s) and maybe a few friends’, there probably isn’t a problem. Just be discrete.

My point was that the poster seemed to be offering views that weren't self-consistent.

Advertising profiling with an X-Rite product intended for consumer use seems to be rather indiscrete.

 

[IanYorke]

ou own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want.

Ian

Not so fast on calibrating whatever you want.

I recall Jose Rodriguez (JToolman) bought an X-Rite i! profiler, and use₫ to offer it as service for $25 (?) to anyone who wanted their printer system ICC calibrated.

After awhile, he stopped offering the service because X-Rite threatened legal action! He was told that owning the i! system does not give him the right to provide a custom profile - he needed a special license from X-Rite for that and it was both to $$$ and to much of a hassle.

Jpegman

using your personal calibrator for a business seems like an unreasonable action to me. YMMV

Ian

"You own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want."

Re: Monitor calibrator software licenses: Retouching Forum: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

As an individual you have no problem.

 

[IanYorke]

using your personal calibrator for a business seems like an unreasonable action to me. YMMV

Ian

"You own the hardware and software. Calibrate whatever monitor you want."

Well, yes and no. You indeed own the hardware, although it may have come with license conditions.

However you don’t own the software—you have a license to use it. And that license has loads of terms that don’t impact most users, but may limit what you can do with the software. So if you’re going to run a business as Ian described, you’d best read any licenses carefully.

But gosh; if you’re just calibrating your own display(s) and maybe a few friends’, there probably isn’t a problem. Just be discrete.

Exactly.

Also whatever is in the EULA may not be enforcible in different countries. Most EULA's forbid selling on the software but this is illegal in Europe.

Ian

 

[Ruby Rod]

Thanks for all the replies! My current take is that one owns the hardware and agreed to nothing when purchasing it. You could take it apart, publish the workings, sell it or run over it with your car. The maker has nothing to say about it. At least that's true in the manufacturing world I come from.

Software, OTOH, comes with a EULA, some of which may or may not be enforceable. It doesn't matter because no individual is in a position to fight corporate lawyers. In fact, I think if you can prove that they failed to enforce their terms, those terms become invalid. So, as said above, some degree of discretion should be used. I doubt anybody will come after me for setting up a couple friends monitors, but advertising a service would be risky. That said, the EULA I'm thinking of puts various limits on use, and then goes on to say offering a service is OK. What they failed to mention is the need for any sort of license from the company, which seems to let one off the hook. Never assume lawyers are smarter than anybody else!

 

[Chris Dubea]

DisplayCal is open source. No EULA restricting your rights to use your device as you see fit.

DisplayCAL—Display Calibration and Characterization powered by ArgyllCMS

Display calibration and profiling with a focus on accuracy and versatility

displaycal.net

 

[NAwlins Contrarian]

Thanks for all the replies! My current take is that one owns the hardware and agreed to nothing when purchasing it.

Did you install the software that came with the hardware, and upon doing so, consent to a EULA? If so, then you might be bound by that when using the hardware, even if / when not using the software.

You could take it apart, publish the workings ....

No, I think, in the U.S. at least, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and/or other laws would prohibit that.

I doubt anybody will come after me for setting up a couple friends monitors, but advertising a service would be risky.

Agreed.