The key question is whether the savings in licensing fees for proprietary products outweigh the additional costs in manpower to integrate and operate the free alternative.
He added: ''That's why in order to get through the licensing process Nipper had to be tested in a number of key areas - tracking, searching, bite work, agility and obedience.
Framing the business as a search engine was a key distinction because search engines have legal protection from paying licensing fees if they merely point users to a location where information can be found.