I am starting my own POS (point-of-sale) business, targeted specifically toward the pizza industry. I want to program it for linux and sell old throwaway computers prepackaged with linux and my new software to mom-and-pop restaurants.

What (if any) legal issues may I come across on my venture? As long as I'm selling the box and including the source code, I shouldn't have any legal troubles, yes?

Feel free to move this if there is a more suitable forum...

See an attorney in your area for legal advice. There are numerous legal issues for any small business owner that have nothing to do with open source. If you can't afford one, contact your local small business administration office for help:

http://www.sba.gov/

I am specifically referring to open-source. My main concern is if I am breaking any license terms by selling my product when it is built on an open-source platform.

IANAL, but
I cant see why you wouldnt be ok if you keep everything opensource.. a linux distro is about the same thing.. as long as you keep within the terms of the GPL (et al) i would not see why it would be a problem..

edit> by linux distro is about the same thing i mean that it is all opensource code that is sold by the particular distro, as long as they keep everything opensource within the distro, they can sell it.. or is there a difference? anyone?

Selling a proprietary program built on an open-source foundation is not necessarily a license violation. It depends on what, if any, free components your program uses and how it uses them.

As for selling a box with the OS pre-installed, it depends on the distribution. Some distributions contain proprietary components that you may not be allowed to redistribute. With others, redistribution is not a problem. It all depends on the distro.

What you really need to do is determine what software you'd like to use for this venture and then read the licenses. There are lots of different open-source licenses and you can't make blanket statements about what is and is not permissible without referring to the license in question.

You've gotten pretty good advice so far. Get the licenses for those components you will be using. Read them. Seek advice of counsel.

There shouldn't be any problem as there are many commercial applications based on OSS. You may have seen those bar-side game terminals in one or more of your local watering holes. Those are Linux based. Your POS system should have no more legal exposure from a licensing standpoint. I think your largest area of potential legal exposure is in program operation. If any of those calculations are wrong.......

Depending on where you live and the brand names of the used computers you are going to be reselling could cause you problems later. Protect yourself by using a competent attorney and get all of the licenses and the tax identification numbers you are going to need.

Thanks for your advice, everyone. It is a good point about the brands of computers I'm selling, but I would think a computer that's been out of the market 8-12 years (average age for a computer I'd use) would have little value to a computer manufacturer. What they could get out of it legally would be another matter, I suppose.

The software will more than likely be php / mysql / apache, X windows runing x11 and fluxbox, and the distro slackware. I'm going to try to build it off of a web server base because of data transmission ease and uncomplicated remote access. I'll need to check the licenses for all of those apps. I may even choose to build the app open-source and just sell the box as the box.

A Lawyer can steal more with his briefcase than a thousand guys with machine guns.

You don't have to include the source code in the package, just to make it available to anyone who asks for it. Most people don't care about the source code. But if someone emails you and asks for the source code, you have to send it to him.