Copyright on open source software

Who owns the copyright for an open source project youve. Why do people care so much about the legal side of open source. She is an internationallyknown specialist in open source software licensing. All open source licenses, by the open source inititatives definition must, among other things, allow distribution in source form. When you make a creative work such as writing, graphics, or code, that work is under exclusive by default. Who owns the copyright for an open source project youve been.

Named one of the top 25 most influential people in government and technology, fed50s disruptor of the year, and winner of the open source peoples choice award, ben previously served as githubs government evangelist. To economists, open source software does not matter because it does not count very much toward the. Nevertheless, there is significant overlap between open source software and free software. That is, the law assumes that as the author of your work, you have a say in what others can do with it. Some organizations such as the free software foundation, on the other hand, apply a very formal process requiring users to sign and mail in paperwork. An opensource license is a type of license for computer software and other products that. Copyright notices in open source software projects the. The strange case of the of opensource software daniel.

The briefing begins with a definition of free open source software, i. In the absence of, could software still exist that satisfied the open source definition andor the four freedoms. Best lawyers named her the it lawyer of the year for 2018. If you havent already, consider reading part 1 and part 2 of this series. To economists, opensource software does not matter because it does not count very much toward the gdp but i think it is a critical hidden. This is part 3 in this series on law and open source licensing. Ben balter is a senior product manager at github, the worlds largest software development network, where he oversees the platforms community and safety efforts.

Take a look at the license for dotnetnuke dnn, a very popular open source portal software for the. When do you need a copyright notice on software and where. After all, your primary product is your original code. Software publishing, the subject with which this book is primarily concerned, gener ally does not involve the payment of royalties to individuals. According to the free software movements leader, richard stallman, the main difference is that by choosing one term over the other i. Open source software offers a great reference for the type of innovation we will get in the postindustrial era. What follows is a discussion of the typical oss project where each contributing organization and individual retains ownership of their s that they make available under the projects open source software license. In any case, some open source projects do not have such a assignment policy in place, but it makes sense to do so. Copyright notices in open source software projects the linux. To protect your source code, treat it like intellectual. Copyright notices for open source projects ben balter. Everything youve ever wondered about the legal side of open source, and a few.

Open source is simply a license to use and modify the software under the terms of the open source software agreement. If that code is used or misappropriated by a competitor, your. Copyright in open source software understanding the boundaries. Open source software is software that allows the source code to be used. She received the prestigious ip vanguard award for private practice from the intellectual property section of the california state bar for 2016. Economists make a grave mistake when they fail to mention open source software as one of the critical innovation of our era. Frequently answered questions open source initiative. Open source licensing, contract, and copyright law oreilly. But because the legal default is still exclusive, you need a license that.