Questions tagged [open-source-software]
For questions about open source software, which is licensed under an open source license. Generally, the source code is made available, and it provides a set of terms to allow others to use it. You may want to consider asking your question at Open Source Stack Exchange as well.
317
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What effect does a project's software license have on its cultural works?
0BSD and ISC are software licenses. They grant permissions for software. I guess these granted permissions legally only apply to what fits the legal definition of software. What if a project combines ...
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Copyright issue of the interface of Windows Notepad
I'm developing Windows application. It is crypto-functioning notepad.
And its design(UI interface) is almost(approx 90%?) same with Microsoft Windows Notepad.
Differences are only some buttons and ...
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Is it theoretically possible to create a free software WinRAR compressor?
Please forgive me if this has already been answered somewhere; I searched high and low and found quite a few answers dealing with the RAR file format but none that answered this specific question.
Is ...
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Can I get benefits of others' contributions to my GPL licensed software to use these contributions in my proprietary software?
I have my own code of a software, purely coded by me. I am intending to open source it, GPLv3 or Apache 2.0. Then I will add them to Github to let others get benefits of source code and contribute ...
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Choosing an open source license — allow commercial use for myself only
Context
I'm writing a web app (and a REST API) and I plan to make my users pay for the software, in order to pay the server costs, but the code is available if some user wants to host the service ...
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Can a company modify and use the source code of a GPLed library without selling it or releasing the modification?
I have a specific case here for which I could not find a clear answer here or on other pages. I am working for a company that is interested in using an open source code licensed under GPL v2.1. The ...
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Is it legal to use “VirtualBox” software without making a payment?
I am planning to open a blog webpage, publish technology-based content on it and make money via blogger earning methods like Google AdSense.
The software I mentioned in the title, which is available ...
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Selling second hand and copyright
If I sell a bit of GPL'ed software I am required to provide source code, or an offer of same. This is based on the "distribution" clause of the GPL. According to this question, if I sell GPL'ed ...
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Why can an open source program use closed source file formats?
I have been wondered following: Excel and Word are closed source product. But still, Libreoffice can write Excel and Word documents, at least to some extent. Is it true that it is not criminal to ...
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Can I say which companies use my open source software?
I have written some open source (MIT License) software. I wrote the software for my own company Company A, that is legally registered with myself as the only employee. I only registered it so I could ...
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Is it possible to sell a software to enterprises, then release its source code for free?
The title says it all. Out of curiosity and because I didn't find any result when searching about that, I'm asking here if it's technically possible to sell a software to an enterprise, then months ...
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Is a contribution clause necessary in dual-licensed MIT-or-Apache code?
I’ve noticed a lot of dual-licensed MIT-or-Apache Rust projects have added this clause concerning contributions:
### Contribution
Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution ...
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124
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How to dissuade certain organizations using my open source code?
I want to prevent military, policing, and surveillance companies from using my open source code in their projects, through a custom permissive license. Of course, I can't tell the military itself ...
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Which U.S. law forbids unlicensed diff files for a copyrighted work?
I know the topic is difficult. But - being a programmer and no lawyer - I want to understand it as best as I can. And it would be good to know the legal issue here for all types of works, not just ...
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How to adopt a class from .Net Core? [closed]
.Net Core is licensed under MIT (copy below).
If I understood it correctly, it says I'm allowed to copy and modify the software, including for sale, but that I have to include the license text in "...
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Can I change MIT license to a proprietary license?
I have an open-source project licensed under MIT. Can I change the license to a proprietary license? (not double licensing) What if I don't want to distribute it anymore and want to move to a ...
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Is there a general EULA I can use that will gurantee my conditions?
Is there a general EULA that companies starting out can include with there software? I need it to guarantee the following,
License Requirements:
The code remains my intellectual property
They have ...
user28278
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Could the freedom to choose an Operating System be a legally enforceable basic human right?
Many employers demand that you use Microsoft's Windows or Apple's macOS if you want to work remotely from home even if they are not technical requirements. As a result this essentially amounts to ...
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Who is held accountable in case of violation of JSON license's specific 'no evil' clause - the end user, the distro, or both?
The JSON license, as well as the jslint (and the 'jshint' derivative) license, is an otherwise unmodified version of the MIT License except for one peculiar clause which reads:
The Software shall ...
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Conditions on using the Java Virtual Machine specification
The appendix to the Java Virtual Machine specification states:
License for Evaluation Purposes. Specification Lead hereby grants you a fully-paid, non-exclusive, non-transferable, ...
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Google Fonts Licensing Question
I am embedding Google Fonts into a commercial website that have either the SIL OFL or Apache License v2.0. Do I need to include the license text or link in the metadata/ elsewhere on the site? I am ...
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Am I liable for problems caused by unendorsed software modification on my products?
Imagine the following hypothetical.
My firm produces electronic controllers for a variety of products. Let's focus, say, on a commercial washing machine.
We design the electronics and develop the ...
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Is an artifact generated by a software under the same license if not explicitly stated?
The current example is to generate an audio file with spoken text using a speech synthesizer and a voice, which both are licensed under a proprietary or open source license.
Assuming the license ...
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Code Project Open License linking restrictions
The Wikipedia entry for the Code Project Open License lists "Linking from code with a different license" as "Unclear". It seems unambiguous to me: code with a different license could link CPOL-...
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476
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Claim copyright over modified code with MIT license in a javascript file
I'm making a web app that I would like to own the copyright of. I used some javascript code from CodePen under MIT license (I believe) that I heavily modified in one of my javascript files.
Is it ok ...
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GPL-3.0's "Open-Sourceness", Images and Image Formats
I took an SVG image from a set which is distributed under GPL-3.0 and used it as (a large) part of an icon I made to a software of mine, which is also distributed under GPL-3.0. So far, everything is ...
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What is the license of the code submitted for review but not yet incorporated in the project?
In the case when there is no explicit mention regarding the rules for such case in the project policy (like, f.e. GitHub
has), what is the status of the code/patch submitted for the review (using ...
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Can I legally make a real mobile app based on a fictional app from a TV show?
There's a fictional mobile app in a Netflix TV show that I'd like to make a real thing. I'm an independent developer, I don't plan on monetizing it in any way, and it's going to be open-source. Is it ...
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150
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Including geometry dervied from copyrighted fonts in open source software
I'm developing a open source software that (internally) uses font glyph identification. The glyphs I'd like to detect come from copyrighted fonts, to which I have personal use licenses.
By font glyph ...
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Enforce GPL v3.0 with software modules
I develop a software that consists of a core application and several optional modules. I would like to license the core and all modules that were developed by me under the GPL v3.0. In addition to ...
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Is research in a company for feasibility testing a commercial purpose
There are many products which are licensed for non-commercial purposes, either paid, free or opensource.
Assume there is a company testing and prototyping some ideas of new products. This does not ...
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Legality of the Android APK package format and external support
I was thinking of operating systems, more specifically mobile operating systems, and a thought occurred to me. Let’s say I decided to make an operating system, mobile or otherwise, could I legally ...
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What if the code found in github with MIT license was stolen by someone and uploaded there?
What would happen if a piece of code from a proprietary source was uploaded by someone without permission to github with the MIT license and thousands of people have used it. Even if the company who ...
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Can I use the EPL-licensed library (Paho) for a commercial project and NOT disclose the source code of the project? [closed]
Can I use the Eclipse Paho library (licensed under EPL) for a commercial project and NOT disclose the whole source code of that project? I'm not going to make any changes to Paho code, I just want to ...
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Does signing CLA and contributing to Apache project really grant a patent license for the entire Apache source tree?
I've been going over the Apache CLA recently, and while I am a layman here I see one point of concern that hopefully someone can clarify.
Specifically, it seems on first reading that section 3
You ...
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Can an open source licence be revoked if it violates employer's IP?
Suppose a developer's contract says that all intellectual property (IP) rights to her code belong to her UK employer. While employed, she develops a library and open-sources it under the Apache 2.0 ...
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Can a user sell my software (MIT license) without modification?
Basically, I was just wondering if I release a piece of open source software under the MIT license, does that mean that someone could take it and sell it onto people without doing any modification to ...
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Distribute Licensed library with stripped code [closed]
I am currently having a bit of a struggle. I wrote a software that uses some methods from Mojangs Minecraft Server Software.
The project is open source and I want to compile, test, etc. my project ...
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Do copyright notices need to be placed at the beginning of a file?
I'm a student and won't be publishing code any time soon, but I am working on improving the composition of my code. I'm interested in open source and I've only seen copyright notices and license text ...
user25777
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860
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Trade restrictions on open source software
Apparently the US has put Huawei on a trade blacklist that prevents US companies to trade with Huawei. With hardware and proprietary software it is straightforward how this can be executed (don't make ...
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Are computer generated error messages subject to copyright?
In firefox, it throws up a generated error in response to the website that im creating (which is my work). can i then copy and paste part of that error into my program as part of a solution im writing?...
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Could the OpenJDK license legally be changed to a commercial one?
I am aware of the new commercial licensing model for Oracle JDK. I also have operational experience with OpenJDK and Oracle JDK.
I have tried to find conclusive evidence that Open JDK can and must ...
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Selling License Exceptions using CLA
I am working on an open-source software project in academia. It is currently licensed under a modified BSD-style license that allows only unmodified, non-commercial usage. We are currently considering ...
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Open Source Contributor License Agreements / Apache2 and patents
Many CLAs contain the below clause that is more or less taken from the Apache2 license:
Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this
Agreement, You hereby grant to ACME ...
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Are there any AGPL-style licences that require source code modifications to be public?
So my understanding of the AGPL, is that it requires modifications to be distributed to the users of the network service, but I'm looking for a licence that would require any modifications (non-...
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Is a copyright notice with a non-existent name invalid?
If a person changes their name, do any copyrights registered to them still apply?
Or at least, as this is the subject in mind, does any software licensed to them still hold the same copyright?
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Can i legally claim to own a derivative Open Source project?
The Apache license states the following:
You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices
stating that You changed the files.
However if i rewrote the original source can i ...
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277
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Copyright or protecting my code written in open source language
We have a business that has become successful, the platform is a very customized build of Drupal where we integrate many different APIs and have a lot of custom code, mostly in PHP. Drupal and PHP are ...
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How to enforce GPL if the copyright holder doesn't have access to the source code of violating software?
I'd like to publish a C library project that I have written on GitHub and license it under GPL, so I am doing some research on open source licenses and some confusion comes to mind.
Let's say Evil ...
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563
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IP ownership in software contract clauses
Many software contract templates will say something along the lines of
"All intellectual property [...] that is developed or produced under this Agreement, will be the sole property of the Client."
...
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