Hi, I am new to SketchUp - hopefully this isn’t a silly question.
I am planning on using SketchUp as backgrounds for a webcomic which hopefully will generate ad revenue later on. I will purchase the Pro subscription for the commercial license then.
My question is: when the webcomic ends and I’m no longer working on it, do I still have to continue the pro license or is it okay to stop the subscription even if the ad revenue continues passively?
I’ve read the EULA 3 times and it doesn’t specifically say anything about it. I’m quite sure that it should be okay but I just wanted to double check.
You need to employ legal counsel to get an answer to your question. No one here is in a position to interpret the EULA for you. The staff from Trimble are not permitted to interpret it, either.
Only my opinion but if you are using SketchUp now to do work that you intend to be commercial, you would need to be using Pro to produce it, not waiting until it starts to actually sell.
I wonder if the question is “If I create something in the trial period of Pro, can I later use the product commercially without paying the subscription between the end of the trial period, until just before my first sale, when I’ll start a subscription?”
If that’s the question, does re-reading the EULA help to answer it?
Is the use of Pro during the trial ok for ‘commercial use’? Or just to allow you to try out the Pro features that aren’t in 2017 Make or Web versions.
Section 2.6 of the EULA for 2021 says:
2.6. Trial Software.
Subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement, you may choose to use the Software for a trial period of 30 days (or such other period agreed to by Trimble in writing) (the “Trial Period”) , without charge, solely for your evaluation purposes of its functionality.
That sounds to me to be what @DaveR said. If it’s for commercial use, pay for Pro.
For sure I will be buying the pro to work on the webcomic, not the trial version.
My question is more of when the comic ends and I’m not actively working on the project anymore - but ad revenue continues to accumulate for it - is it okay to stop the pro subscription since I’m not working on it anymore?
As said, consult a lawyer, but I understand that SketchUp has no copyright or right to collect royalties over things you have created with it. If you use Microsoft Word to write a novel that becomes a classic your copyright holders won’t have to keep paying Microsoft.
Nor would the author have to keep paying Microsoft far into the future for the right to use Word (assuming that the author has retired and no longer uses Word at all). This is the position that @noiondays seems to be anticipating with their web comic.