Ice Licensing
Ice is released as open source under the GNU General Public License (GPL). By linking with Ice (directly or indirectly, statically or dynamically, at compile time or runtime), your application is subject to the terms of the GPL, which require that you release the source code of your application if and when you "distribute" it. Distributing an application includes giving it to customers, contractors, parent companies, subsidiaries, or any legal entity other than your own. Also note that the GPL does not permit you to distribute your application if it depends on non-free software (other than common operating system components), meaning that you can only distribute your application if all of its dependencies also have a license that is compatible with the GPL.
If you do not wish to be bound by the terms of the GPL, you can acquire a commercial license from ZeroC. We are flexible with respect to licensing, and will always try to find a licensing model that both works for our customers and gives us a fair share for our Ice software.
One of our licensing models is a license fee that is based on your organization's overall gross annual revenue of all products that use Ice. Of course, this model is only appropriate for Ice software products that are not bundled with other software or with hardware. We therefore also offer other models, including per-CPU licensing fees, fixed annual fees, and one-time buy-outs. Please contact us to discuss your licensing requirements.