Software AG’s public licence documents are short because the vendor sells under negotiated commercial agreements. The documents that are public set the outer boundaries: what may not be done under any commercial licence, what a free trial allows, and what the free Docker images licence allows. This article reads them in order and flags what each means for asset managers. Quantities, metrics, term, fees and any audit procedure are in the customer’s commercial licence agreement, which the public documents do not reproduce.[1]
The legal notice index
The vendor’s legal page for documentation lists: the licence terms and conditions for use of Software GmbH products (with copyright and trademark notices), the Software GmbH privacy policy, the limited use licence agreement for Software GmbH Docker images, third-party licence texts and archived texts (both for Empower users only), export control compliance, the acceptable use policy and patents. The page is marked “Page last updated: August 27, 2026”.[2] That date is a page update date and is not a licence effective date.
General notice (version ALLv202601)
The general notice states that it is valid for all products, product lines and associated products of Software GmbH, including software, documentation, user manuals and related materials, and carries the version mark ALLv202601.[1] It has three parts.
Preamble
The preamble says that installation or use of any software indicates acceptance of the terms, and the person installing represents and warrants authority to bind the customer in dealing with the relevant Software GmbH subsidiary or distributor, called the “Supplier”. A person who does not agree should not proceed and should return the software and all copies to the Supplier.[1] For a software asset manager the representation of authority is notable: an engineer who clicks through an installer can bind the company to the notice, which is a reason to route installs of vendor software through a controlled process.
Part A: general terms
Part A says the Product may not be installed or used without a corresponding licence agreement. If the customer has a commercial licence agreement with a Software GmbH subsidiary or distributor, installation and use are subject to the additional terms in Part B.[1] Part A also contains the copyright and trademark notice and says Software GmbH or its subsidiaries own all intellectual property rights in the Products or have the distribution rights, and that notices in or on the Products may not be altered, deleted or obliterated.[1]
Part B: additional terms for a commercial licence
Part B states:[1]
- The commercial agreement does not grant the right to sublicense, rent, assign or lease the software in whole or in part.
- The customer may not decompile, disassemble, modify, decrypt, extract or otherwise reverse engineer, or make further copies of the software, except as the commercial agreement explicitly permits.
- The software is designed for general office use and not for use in air traffic control, mass transit systems, critical medical purposes, nuclear facilities or any other use that could result in a high risk of safety or property damage; the customer warrants not to use it so.
- Export and re-export are restricted, the customer indemnifies the vendor for breach of the export undertakings, and the vendor may decline to honour parts of the notice or the commercial agreement if export or sanctions rules prohibit provision of the goods or services.
The “no assign” language is worth noting in relation to mergers and outsourcing. Part B does not say whether a change of control counts as an assignment; that is for the commercial agreement.
Part C: evaluation licence for trial versions
Part C applies only if the customer has not already executed a commercial licence for the Product, and in a conflict between Part A and Part C, Part C applies.[1] It grants, free of charge, a non-exclusive licence to use the Product and documentation on a single computer, on a workstation or on a single terminal within a network for evaluation and testing for a defined period. The Product may in no event be deployed or used for any commercial production purpose, such as developing new applications or testing, supporting, maintaining or reengineering existing applications, unless a commercial licence is acquired and fees paid. Copies may not be passed to third parties, and a separate licence is needed for each user or workstation on multi-user systems.[1]
The licence is limited to no longer than ninety days from installation, and it may limit use to certain features, platforms or capacity by default or by licence key, which the customer agrees not to bypass.[1] The evaluation licence terminates immediately without notice on non-compliance, and on termination the customer must destroy all copies and, on request, certify in writing that use has stopped.[1] The agreement is governed by German law, and the Product is provided “as is” without support, with no right to updates or maintenance.[1]
A common compliance failure is an evaluation installation that becomes a de facto proof of concept or development environment for a real project. The terms exclude development of new applications and maintenance of existing ones, so such use needs a commercial licence even if the trial key still works.
Limited Use License for Docker images (v2025.1)
The Docker licence applies when someone pulls, downloads, uses or installs the accompanying product from a Software GmbH Docker image. It grants, free of charge, a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to use and copy the Product on the number of computers, workstations or terminals specified in the product documentation, for internal production use.[3] The licence is for an indefinite period subject to termination, but it limits use to certain features, platforms or capacity restrictions in the product or its documentation, and the customer may not bypass those limits.[3]
Its main restrictions are these.[3]
| Topic | Term |
|---|---|
| Integration into your products | The Product may not be used to develop an integrated solution that must be integrated into your or a third party’s intellectual property to create a combined product provided to third parties |
| Distribution | No passing on or distributing copies; no sublicensing, transfer, rent, assignment or lease |
| Reverse engineering | Barred |
| Support and updates | None; such services are typically available only under a Commercial License Agreement |
| Benchmarking | A material term: no benchmarking or similar performance testing without written consent, and no publication of results without further consent |
| Liability | Limited to fees paid, if any, in the three months before the first event giving rise to liability |
| Termination | Immediately without notice on breach; vendor may also terminate if the Product becomes subject to an infringement claim; certification of destruction on request |
| Governing law | New York, excluding CISG and the UCC; exclusive jurisdiction in federal and state courts in the Southern District of New York; losing party pays costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees; jury trial waived |
Third-party applications in the image may be subject to their own terms, which may be identified in the licence or at the vendor’s licence site, and use of Java SE platform products in the image is expressly subject to Oracle’s terms.[3] Feedback given to the vendor can be used for any purpose, and the customer grants an irrevocable, perpetual, royalty-free licence to it.[3]
For compliance, the central point is that the licence is a limited-use free licence rather than a commercial one. Whether a given container deployment is covered depends on the use restrictions stated in the release notes of the specific image, and a production system built on a Docker image that later needs support or higher capacity will need a commercial agreement.
Older Adabas and Natural notice
An older legal notice still published in the product documentation applies to the Adabas, ApplinX, crossvision, EntireX, Integrated Services Framework, Natural and Tamino product lines and associated products. It also says the Product may not be installed or used without a corresponding licence agreement, directs customers with a subsidiary or distributor licence agreement to the additional terms, and provides a trial-version agreement.[4] The additional terms say the licence does not grant the right to sublicense, rent, assign or lease the software and bar decompiling, disassembling, modifying, decrypting, extracting or reverse engineering and making further copies except as the licence permits; they add notes on export control and US Government restrictions.[4] The copyright mark on the page reads 2006, so it should be treated as an older document; which version applies to a given installation depends on what was accepted at installation and what the commercial agreement says.
Third-party components
Where the Products contain open source, free or commercial third-party components, the Evaluation and Docker licences say these may be subject to special terms in text or PDF files in the installation directory, in installer notices, or at the vendor’s licence site, and that the third-party terms include important licensing and warranty information and disclaimers.[1] The legal index says the full third-party licence texts are available to Empower users only.[2] This matters for open-source licence audits of products shipped as Docker images.
Licence enforcement and the notice
The general notice says nothing about audits. The mainframe licensing guide shows the vendor’s technical alternative: licence files that bind a product to a machine and capacity and are checked at start-up and daily.[5] For distributed platforms, the vendor says a product licence check has been established for many years.[5] Contractual audit rights, if any, would be in the commercial agreement.
Checklist
- Archive the version of the legal notice (for example ALLv202601) and the Docker licence version (v2025.1) in force when software was installed.
- Inventory evaluation installs and Docker image pulls, and decide whether each remains within the free terms.
- Check that no benchmark results have been shared externally without written consent.
- Review the commercial agreement for assignment, change of control, audit and governing-law terms, which the public notices do not provide.
- Keep third-party component notices when redistributing products or images internally.