ONLYOFFICE flags license violations in “Euro-Office” project by Nextcloud and IONOS

At ONLYOFFICE, we have spent years building a fully functional, production-ready online document editor, investing deeply in compatibility, performance, and real-world usability.

Today, the issue we are observing is not a matter of technological competition, but of legal compliance.

What we are seeing

We are aware of the recently announced “Euro-Office” initiative led by Nextcloud and IONOS.

Based on publicly available information, the “Euro-Office” project uses technology derived from ONLYOFFICE editors in violation of our licensing terms and of international intellectual property law.

There are clear rules, and they matter

ONLYOFFICE is distributed under the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPL v3), alongside additional requirements designed to ensure transparency and fair attribution.

These include:

• preserving ONLYOFFICE branding in derivative works;
• providing proper attribution to the original technology;
• fully complying with open-source distribution obligations.

These conditions are not optional. They are a fundamental part of using the software legally and ethically.

Here is a lawyer’s opinion:

“Since 2016, ONLYOFFICE has distributed its software under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License v3 (AGPLv3), a widely recognized copyleft model designed to ensure a balance between openness of the code and protection of the rights of the copyright holder.

Essentially, AGPLv3 requires that the same license be preserved upon distribution, that the source code be disclosed, including where the software is provided as a service (SaaS), and that copyright notices and license attributions be retained.

Pursuant to Section 7 of AGPLv3, the copyright holder is expressly entitled to impose additional conditions. In the case of ONLYOFFICE, such conditions include, in particular:

• the obligation to retain the original product logo (Section 7(b));
• the denial of any rights to use the copyright holder’s trademarks (Section 7(e)).

Such additions to the License were implemented on May 25, 2021, and can be found at line 655 of the License.

AGPLv3 expressly permits the inclusion of such additional conditions, which, upon distribution of the software, apply together with the core license terms as a single, indivisible, and enforceable legal framework.

Accordingly, access to and use of the code is strictly conditional upon full compliance with all applicable terms, both standard and additional.

Any argument that a modified or derivative version of the software may be distributed under a “pure” AGPLv3 license, excluding the additional conditions imposed pursuant to Section 7, is legally unfounded.

The right to create and distribute derivative works arises solely from the license grant. Such a grant is conditional and indivisible. Accordingly, any derivative work based on the original ONLYOFFICE code may be created and distributed only in compliance with all applicable license terms, including the additional conditions.

The creation of a derivative work does not give rise to an independent licensing regime free from the conditions under which the original code was obtained.

In other words, AGPLv3 does not permit selective application: a recipient either accepts AGPLv3 in its entirety, including all additional conditions, or acquires no rights to use the software.

Any removal, disregard, or unilateral “exclusion” of conditions imposed under Section 7 constitutes use beyond the scope of the granted license and, therefore, a breach.

Under Section 8 of AGPLv3, any breach of the license terms results in the automatic termination of the rights granted thereunder.

In the absence of a valid license, any further use of the software is unauthorized and, as such, constitutes an infringement of the copyright holder’s exclusive rights.

Characterizing such additional conditions as “unenforceable” or “non-obligatory” does not alter their legal nature. These conditions form part of the license grant itself, and compliance with them is a condition for obtaining and maintaining the rights under AGPLv3. Their validity is not subject to unilateral assessment by the recipient of the code.”

Not innovation, but legal responsibility

Let’s be clear:

Repackaging, modifying, or redistributing software without complying with the governing license is not a matter of interpretation.

It is a matter of compliance with established legal norms.

Our position

The “Euro-Office” initiative represents an evident and material violation of ONLYOFFICE licensing terms and of established principles of international intellectual property law. We require full and immediate compliance with all applicable licensing conditions, including — but not limited to — the preservation of ONLYOFFICE branding, logo, and all required attribution elements as defined in our licensing terms.

Only after full compliance is ensured, we will be ready to address and discuss the inaccurate and misleading statements about ONLYOFFICE that have been made in connection with this project.

As for the statement that “open collaboration with ONLYOFFICE was not possible for a number of reasons”, we believe that working within a proper legal and licensing framework is, in fact, the very foundation of any real collaboration. It has already proven to work for millions of users and hundreds of partners worldwide.