All Questions
Tagged with copyright open-source-software
95
questions
0
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1
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36
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How to prevent the govermnent from using my software? [closed]
I'd like to release my software on github, under a license that allows everyone except governmental organizations or institutes including the military to copy, modify and distribute it.
Personally, I ...
- 41.5k
1
vote
2
answers
133
views
Why is a license necessary to design a microarchitecture for the arm family of instruction set architectures?
In order to design a microarchitecture that uses the ARM instruction set architecture (ISA), one has to buy an "architectural license".[1]
However, I don't understand by what mechanism ARM ...
- 5,751
8
votes
2
answers
337
views
Can a child release his own work into e.g. the public domain?
I (15 years old; living in Germany) write software now for ~four years and wondered whether I can release it into the public domain or under some free software license without having to ask somebody. ...
- 215k
0
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0
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26
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Is the use of fictional names from a video game in the source code subject to the copyright of the original work? [duplicate]
If I were to reproduce a large amount of names (of characters, abilities, locations, items, etc.) from a video game, then use these names in the source code of a new software being developed, would ...
- 51
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1
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251
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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-...
CommunityBot
- 1
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0
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35
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Can titles of published papers be used for commercial purposes?
Let's say I want to sell t-shirts, and I want to include the title of famous scientific papers. I am also considering adding some other visuals to the shirt; in some cases let's say I would consider ...
- 101
-3
votes
4
answers
179
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Can I sneak around my copyleft obligations with adhesion contracts?
Some licenses, like the GPL, mandate that I license derivative works under the same license and not a more restrictive license. I believe this is called "copyleft".
But say I want to have ...
- 34.4k
2
votes
2
answers
155
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Can a software license be conditional on the actions of others?
I recently had an idea for a "threshold conditional" software license that works like this:
Any person/entity can purchase a license and gain the unconditional right to use the software any ...
- 5,751
31
votes
5
answers
9k
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Can you host a version of Wikipedia on your own domain and charge for it?
I am reading through these notes, trying to piece together a picture of what the rules/laws are regarding Wikipedia content:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Mirrors_and_forks
https://en....
- 17.1k
2
votes
1
answer
139
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Commerical usage of sentence-transformers/multi-qa-mpnet-base-cos-v1 [closed]
We are trying to use a HuggingFace Embedding model - multi-qa-mpnet-base-cos-v1 for an internal Large Language Model powered application. While reading the documentation it says (not verbatim):
For ...
- 5,751
1
vote
1
answer
162
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What if someone published program on invalid license and then fixed it?
I saw repository on GitHub where someone had LICENSE file as below:
Copyright year name
Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in ...
- 2,378
2
votes
1
answer
351
views
What is the difference between typeface derivative works and a "document created using the font"
I like the Humor Sans font and have been using it to create infographics. These are png/jpg files and do not contain information about the font typeface, nor do they contain any of the source code of ...
- 114k
0
votes
1
answer
59
views
Is the non-applicability of copyright to software interfaces considered settled law?
In computer software, it's common for a system to expose an Application Programming Interface (API) for other software to interact with it. For example, a smart lightbulb might expose a SetBrightness(...
- 61.4k
0
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0
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14
views
Grant access to previous public research results including IPR for the purpose of future commercial exploitation
We are building a project of technology transfer.
In the project, one partner is a university XXX; the main contact person who will work with us is a professor. Previously, the professor and his team ...
- 103
0
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0
answers
17
views
Does BSD 3-clause extend to educational material
Problem
I am looking to teach a web development course and to help teach JavaScript I wanted to use a package licensed under BSD 3-clause. I am unsure if using the library to teach with violates the ...
- 101
0
votes
1
answer
211
views
Can the GPL3 and MIT license be applied to closed-source software?
I recently found software containing only binaries (no access to source code) being distributed and dual-licensed under the GPL3 (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html) and MIT (https://...
- 34.4k
6
votes
1
answer
385
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In the US, under what circumstances can I re-write code I previously wrote but do not own?
I write code for company X in the USA using popular technology Y. In the course of my job I end up developing a number of useful libraries/widgets/utilities for use within the Y ecosystem that have ...
- 161
12
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Am I at risk by storing or using software that violates copyright?
Imagine the following scenario:
A software company copies code from some open source project and includes it in their own software without giving credit to the original authors, violating the open ...
- 34.4k
1
vote
0
answers
64
views
AGPL-3.0 license
If make a service for a open source software with this license that interact but isn't part of the software itself, only connected to it,
i would need to provide a open source distribution of the ...
- 53
5
votes
1
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1k
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What is a binary form in software BSD license (and other licenses that didn't define it)?
BSD license says (emphasis mine):
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met...
It sounds "...
- 203
2
votes
1
answer
297
views
Is each version of a software considered a "derivative work"?
Originally asked in Software Engineering but a user raised it is more a legal question than an engineering one.
Let's suppose there is a software at version a1 in code repository A on an online code ...
- 215k
2
votes
2
answers
188
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Can minors publish open source software?
If a minor releases software under a FOSS license, is the license binding? Could the minor sue a violator?
- 151
2
votes
1
answer
94
views
Is a website using behind the scenes software X a "copy" or "substantial portion" of software X?
The MIT license says:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.
Bob finds a nice piece of MIT-licensed software ...
- 114k
13
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Is it legal to write software to convert data from a proprietary format?
I have created a piece of software that converts a proprietary format from the database blob of a large, well known commercial software company into the equivalent open source data type. The large ...
- 131
4
votes
3
answers
253
views
If I post my own code to Stack Overflow, can I then use that code in a project that uses a license other than CC-BY-SA?
Suppose that I have a block of code that represents my own original work (i.e. I am the copyright holder), and that I would like to post this code on Stack Overflow--either to answer someone else's ...
- 7,372
0
votes
1
answer
144
views
Can a developer use someone else's product name as an Open Source project name?
Suppose that an open source developer wants to use the product name ninjago owed by Lego for the name of an Open Source project. Is it allowed to base the project name on Lego brand? Also can the ...
- 114k
16
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How long does a GPL licencee have to respond to a source code request before it becomes a GPL violation?
I have requested source code for a product that contains software licensed under GPL 2. The product includes a written offer to provide source code if you send a written request by email. The offer is ...
- 114k
0
votes
2
answers
195
views
Is my programming knowledge contaminated?
We know that ideas are not copyrightable (except for patent related issues), but expressions are (idea–expression dichotomy). However, after reading about clean room design, I got somewhat confused. ...
- 114k
2
votes
1
answer
218
views
If commercial use is not mentioned in a software license like BSD, is it implied to freely do so?
BSD talks mostly about redistribution and doesn't even mention commercial use or something like "for any purpose". Therefore they don't need to explicitly state "commercial use is ...
- 215k
0
votes
1
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175
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Why does the open source license BSD-Clause 2/3 not have something like "to deal in the Software without restriction?
Every article that I've read about BSD-Clause 2 and 3 pretty much said that the licensed software is free of restrictions/any purpose as long as you follow what the licenses say, but the actual ...
- 27.8k