New Easier R&D, Commercial Use and RealAudio and RealVideo porting licenses as of April 24th, 2006 !!
The Helix Community caters to many constituencies, each of which has different goals in addition to a shared objective of extending the Helix platform. To allow developers and their organizations the maximum flexibility, we have multiple licenses, each tailored to a different constituency and need.
To license the Helix DNA source code, you may choose one of two open source licenses or a commercial license: the GNU General Public License (GPL) - (for the Helix DNA Client and Helix Player only), the RealNetworks Public Source License (RPSL) or the commercial RealNetworks Community Source License (RCSL) respectively. Summarized details on the licenses are below (for specifics, see the licenses).
Free and Open Source Licensing
1) Free software - GNU General Public License (GPL)
For the Helix DNA Client and Helix Player, the GPL is a widely used and popular open source license. It contains a "copyleft" or "force-sharing'" provision, that requires developers to open source their resultant Helix DNA-based product's source code.
2) OSI-certified open source - RealNetworks Public Source License (RPSL) 
This license is an approved Open Source Initiative open source license. It contains some "copyleft" provisions along the lines of the GPL, but allows contributed changes to be put back into the pool for the entire community, and allows for wider compatibility with other OSI-certified licenses. Hence, the RPSL gives you the right to develop and distribute Helix DNA, but modifications to the Helix DNA itself need to be supplied back to the community under the RPSL. Also, applications built using the Helix DNA must be released wholly as open source.
You can view the terms of the RPSL to see whether it fits your needs. By downloading the Helix DNA source code you agree to abide by either the open source GPL or RPSL or commercial community RCSL R&D license.
Personal Use of RealAudio and RealVideo Codecs
Binary End User License Agreement (EULA)
If you wish to use the Real's RealAudio and RealVideo codecs for personal use or for developing an application (R&D), you are welcome to do that. We make the compiled versions of those codecs available for a wide range of platforms. Click here to view the terms of the binary EULA. To agree to this license, please register on the site -- you will then be given a chance to agree to the EULA and gain access to the compiled Helix DNA binaries which include the RealAudio and RealVideo codec in binary form.
Commercial R&D Licenses
1) Helix DNA R&D - RealNetworks Community Source License (RCSL - R&D)
Many organizations want to use Helix for commercial products, such as putting a media player on a mobile phone or set top box. If you require a non-open source commercial license, Helix DNA is available under the RCSL. There is a free Research & Development use license. Modifications to the Helix DNA itself are required to be granted back to the Helix Community, but applications built on top of the Helix DNA are not.
Click here to view the terms of the RCSL R&D License. Please register on the site then by downloading the Helix DNA source code you simply abide by either the community source RCSL R&D license or open source GPL or RPSL. If you wish to port or optimize the Helix DNA media engines for a specific platform, go right ahead! We have even set up a porting project with mailing lists and resources specifically to help in such efforts.
2) RealAudio/RealVideo R&D - Real Format Source Code Porting and Optimization License - Decoder
If you need to porting or optimizing Real's ubiquitous RealAudio and RealVideo codecs for a specific platform, a free Real Format Source Code Porting and Optimization License is available to you.
Commercial Distribution License
1) RCSL Commercial Use
To commercially use applications based on either the Helix DNA technology and the Real Format Client Code or the Helix DNA technology alone, you need to agree to the new RCSL Commercial Use license.
2) Real Format Client Code Commerical Use
To commerically use applications based on the Real Format Client Code only, you will need to agree to the Real Format Client Code Commerical Use license.
A summary of licensing terms and how to submit a license is here.
Questions?
