# Maru Commercial License

> The licence for modules sold on Maru: buyers play and install them, the source stays closed, nobody remixes or redistributes them.

Canonical: https://maru.audio/docs/maru-commercial-license
Documentation index: https://maru.audio/llms.txt

> **Draft, for review, not legal advice. 2026-10-25.** This page states the
> intent of the Maru Commercial License in plain language. It is not legal
> text and will change after legal review. Until a final version is
> published, it does not replace the beta terms on [Licensing](https://maru.audio/docs/licensing.md).

The Maru Commercial License, version 1.0 (`maru-commercial-1.0`), is for
modules that are sold. Maru uses it for its own commercial plug-ins, and any
creator can choose it for a module they sell on Maru. The module page shows
it with the price and the line **Reuse: Play and install only**.

## What a buyer may do

- **Play and install the module** on the computers its plug-in licence
  allows, in the Maru host plug-ins, in a DAW or on the site.
- **Make music with it.** Audio, MIDI and presets you make with the module
  belong to you, including for commercial releases. The licence covers the
  module, not what you make with it.

## What it does not allow

- **Remixing or forking.** The module is published without its source, so
  there is nothing to open in Studio or start a project from, and Maru
  refuses a remix of it.
- **Importing it into another module**, as source or as a linked program,
  unless the author grants that separately.
- **Redistributing** the module, its built files or its presets, or sharing
  a licence with people who did not buy it.

## How it is sold

- The author sets a price on the module's listing. Buying it gives the buyer
  an entitlement to the module on their account.
- A native plug-in checks that entitlement when it is activated, as
  described in [Plug-in licensing](https://maru.audio/docs/plugin-licensing.md). The author
  chooses how many computers one purchase may activate and whether there is
  a free trial.
- The author keeps the copyright. The checkout names the seller and the
  refund terms of the sale.

## For authors

Choose this licence when you want to sell a module and keep its source
private. Publish it without its source (`maru publish --no-source`) and
declare in its `package.json` that others may only play it:

```json
{
  "maru": {
    "share": { "dsp": "product", "face": "product" },
    "listing": { "license": "maru-commercial-1.0" }
  }
}
```

To let other people remix your module instead, choose the
[Maru Remix License](https://maru.audio/docs/maru-remix-license.md) or an open licence.

## Open questions before 1.0 is final

- Whether a buyer may move a licence to another person.
- What happens to an installed module after a refund.
- Whether a subscription can grant the same rights as a one-time purchase.