Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing

Chapter 5. Non-Open Source Licenses

In the previous chapters, we have examined open source and free software licenses, all of which permit, to varying extents, substantial inroads on the protections otherwise available under copyright or patent law. In this chapter, by contrast, we examine one variety of a classic proprietary license, as well as the Sun Community Source licenses and the Microsoft Shared Source Initiative.

Classic Proprietary License

The classic proprietary license needs relatively little explanation. The license does not need to distinguish, for example, between source and binary code: the source code is simply not made available. The license need not distinguish between distribution of derivative and original works: with one very narrow exception, neither is permitted. Proprietary licenses, like the one described below, may contain "open source" licensed software (under the more permissive licenses, like the MIT and BSD Licenses), but the code they license may not be included in any open source project, unless the code is licensed under a parallel non-proprietary license that permits such use.

The following license is the creation of the author. It licenses the hypothetical software of the Mildew Corporation, using terms found in virtually all proprietary licenses.

1. General. The software, documentation and any fonts accompanying this License whether on disk, in read only memory, on any other media or in any other form (collectively the "Software") are licensed, ...