Licensing Guide

1. Overview

Products on Sulu Market are licensed, not sold. When you purchase a product, you receive a license to use it under terms chosen by the creator. The creator retains ownership of the underlying work.

Creators select a license type when listing a product. Buyers receive rights under that license upon purchase.

2. License types at a glance

3. License details

Commercial

The default license for most products. Grants personal and commercial use, including modification for your own projects. You may not redistribute, resell, or repackage the product without explicit permission from the creator.

Suitable for asset packs, models, textures, and most paid content.

GPL 3.0

The GNU General Public License v3 is an open-source copyleft license. Recipients may use, modify, and redistribute the work — but must do so under the same license. Source code must be made available to anyone you distribute to.

The GPL does not prevent selling. Creators sell access, support, and updates. The license governs what recipients can do with the code after purchase.

Primarily used for code-based products: Blender add-ons, scripts, and tools.

MIT

The MIT License is a permissive open-source license. Recipients may use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and sell copies of the software under any terms they choose. The only requirement: include the original copyright notice and license text in copies or substantial portions of the software.

There is no copyleft obligation — derivative works can use any license, including proprietary. There is no requirement to provide source code.

MIT is GPL-compatible, meaning MIT-licensed code can be incorporated into GPL projects. It is commonly used for code-based products such as Blender add-ons, scripts, libraries, and developer tools.

CC-BY 4.0

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International. A permissive license that allows sharing and adaptation for any purpose, including commercial use. The one requirement: credit the creator.

Attribution must be reasonable (e.g., credit in a README, project file, or published work). It does not need to be prominent or on-screen.

Good for assets that creators want widely used and shared.

CC0

Public domain equivalent. The creator waives all rights to the fullest extent permitted by law. No restrictions, no attribution required. This waiver is irrevocable — once released under CC0, it cannot be revoked.

Editorial

Editorial use only. The buyer may use the product in non-commercial editorial contexts — such as news coverage, commentary, reviews, or educational materials. No commercial use, no redistribution, no modification without explicit permission from the creator.

This license is intended for assets that contain trademarked or copyrighted references — for example, fan art, brand mockups, or real-world product depictions. The editorial restriction limits liability for both the creator and buyer.

Custom

The creator defines their own license terms. The full license text must be included with the product. Read custom license terms carefully before purchase — rights and restrictions vary.

4. Blender add-ons and the GPL

Blender is released under the GPL. Its Python API is an integral part of the software. Add-ons that use the Blender Python API must be released under a GPL-compatible license (GPL 3.0 or MIT).

Key points:

• GPL does not prevent selling. You sell access, support, and continued development — not just code. Thousands of creators earn a living selling GPL-licensed tools.
• Python is interpreted. Distributing .py files is distributing source code. No additional steps are needed to satisfy the source code requirement.
• Source availability is scoped. You must make source code available to people you distribute to. You do not need to make your repository public or provide code to anyone who hasn't received the software.
• Recipients can redistribute. Anyone who receives GPL code can share it with others under the same license. However, Sulu Market does not allow opportunistic re-uploads of existing products.
• GPL covers code only. Non-code assets bundled with an add-on (textures, models, images, presets) are not covered by the GPL and can use any license.

5. Mixed licensing

Products often combine code and non-code assets — for example, an add-on bundled with a texture library. Different components can use different licenses.

Best practice:

1. Separate code and assets into distinct subfolders.
2. Include a LICENSE file in each subfolder with the applicable license text.
3. Add a top-level LICENSE file that explains the split.

Example folder structure:

MyProduct/
├── LICENSE              ← explains the dual-license setup
├── addon/
│   ├── LICENSE          ← GPL 3.0
│   ├── __init__.py
│   └── operators.py
└── assets/
    ├── LICENSE          ← CC-BY 4.0
    ├── textures/
    └── models/

The top-level LICENSE might read:

MyProduct is released under multiple licenses.

Code in the addon/ directory is licensed under the GNU General Public
License v3. See addon/LICENSE for the full text.

Assets in the assets/ directory are licensed under Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY 4.0). See assets/LICENSE for
the full text.

6. For creators

• Choose deliberately. Pick the license that matches your product type and your intent for how it will be used.
• Include a LICENSE file. Every product download should contain a LICENSE file (or one per component for mixed-license products).
• GPL source files need headers. Add a license notice to the top of each Python file in your add-on.
• Verify third-party components. If your product includes third-party code or assets, ensure you have the right to distribute them and that their licenses are compatible with yours.
• Disclose open-source dependencies. If your product incorporates open-source components, comply with their license terms (attribution, source availability, etc.).

7. For buyers

• A purchase grants a license, not ownership. You receive the right to use the product under its license terms.
• Respect redistribution terms. Commercial licenses typically prohibit redistribution. GPL and CC licenses permit it under conditions.
• CC-BY requires attribution. If you use a CC-BY licensed asset in your work, credit the creator.
• GPL code can be modified and shared — but only under the same license.
• Back up your purchases. Download your files and keep local copies.