I am probably being desperately naive here, but i wanted to clear something up. RUP appears to be a proprietary process owned by IBM. What implications does that have for any project wanting to implement it?
Logically, i struggle to see how any 'process' can be made proprietary - you are simply following a series of tasks in a prescribed order. Further to this, there appears to be similar methodologies like AUP and OpenUP that work in a very similar manner but are open source.
The only conclusion i can come to, is that the proprietary aspect refers to the tools and diagrams made available to assist in implementing these.
As i said, i am probably being desperately naive but i wanted to clear up the confusion.
I think you can apply the RUP.
I believe UML is an OMG standard, not a proprietary IBM technology.
The licenses apply to the tools that IBM sells to support it. IBM bought Rational Software, which was founded by the Three Amigoes who were responsible for unifying their competing object notations into a single standard, since taken up by OMG.
If you're really worried, best to consult a lawyer. But I believe you're safe from legal hassles if you use UML and RUP.
I'd challenge what value you'll get from both, but that's another question.