Question: Highcharts is supposed to be an open source chart project that is free for personal use and for non-profit organisations. For non-profit organisations and individuals it is licensed under the [Creative Commons (CC) Attribution-NonCommercial licence](http://Creative%20Commons%20(CC)%20Attribution-NonCommercial%20licence)

Now I'm in a situation that I am a software developer, developing software for an eligible organisation (non-profit, non-government since highcharts does not consider government organisations to be covered). Now as I understand it, this organisation does not need a licence for Highcharts and if I was an employee of this organisation I could just use highcharts to develop a Highcharts enabled website for them. 

My questions are:

1. Is my previous assumption that if an in-house team develops the organisation's website then a licence is not required correct?
2. If I am not an employee of of that organisation but I am just contracted **as an individual** to create and deliver a Highcharts enabled website for them, do I need to purchase a licence for Highcharts?
3. If I belong to a for-profit company which is contracted to develop a to create and deliver a Highcharts enabled website to a non-profit organisation, is a licence required in that case and if yes, what kind of licence (assuming that Highcharts is not generally going to be used by that company in any other projects or services)?

Answer: 
Firstly, IANAL/IANYL.

That said, [Creative Commons says](https://creativecommons.org/faq/#does-my-use-violate-the-noncommercial-clause-of-the-licenses) that the NC licence prohibits uses that are "*primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or monetary compensation*". They go on to note that

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> CC's definition does not turn on the type of user: if you are a nonprofit or charitable organization, your use of an NC-licensed work could still run afoul of the NC restriction, and if you are a for-profit entity, your use of an NC-licensed work does not necessarily mean you have violated the term.
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So the answer to question one seems to me to be that it depends what the non-profit, through its development team, is using the software *for*. If it's serving the non-profit's charitable purpose, then I suspect that is a lawful use under CC BY-NC. If it's fundraising, this is arguably not lawful (*primarily intended for ... monetary compensation*). My church rents its rooms out as a commercial proposition, and that activity would almost certainly not be lawful.

Questions two and three seem easier: your primary purpose in question two, and your company's in question three, are to make money, so the use under CC BY-NC is not lawful and in both cases a commercial license will need to be purchased.

In the end, CC advises that "*you should either contact the rights holder for clarification, or search for works that permit commercial uses*".

This is an excellent illustration of why non-commercial-only licences are not considered free.
> 
> Now as I understand it, this organisation does not need a licence for
>  Highcharts and if I was an employee of this organisation I could just
>  use highcharts to develop a Highcharts enabled website for them.
> 
> 
> 

IANAL. But

(a) the licensee would normally be the organisation rather than its employers or contract workers.

(b) the organisation does need a license. That's why Highcharts has provided one: specifically, the CC-BY-NC license.

(c) I don't think there's a distinction between employees and contract workers. If the organisation has a license to do X (and it appears they do) then they can ask you to do X on their behalf, whether you are an employee or not, unless the license defines explicit constraints, which it doesn't.

(d) If this license ever gets tested in court then the lawyers are going to have a field day and the outcome is highly unpredictable. It's therefore highly unlikely that anyone will risk suing anyone unless it's a flagrant breach. If what you are doing seems fair to you, then it's unlikely to be a problem.