CHAPTER 3
Understanding Software Licensing
Software is a type of intellectual property (IP), which is governed by copyright laws and, in some countries, patent laws. As a general rule, this makes it illegal to copy software unless you're the software's author. Open source software, however, relies on licenses, which are documents that alter the terms under which the software is released. As described in this chapter, open source licenses grant additional rights to software's users.
Open source software in general owes a great deal to three organizations: the Free Software Foundation (FSF), the Open Source Initiative (OSI), and the Creative Commons. Each organization has a distinct philosophy and role to play in the open source world. There are ...
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