Bifalgorithm post · Infotech governance policy ethics and law · Appendix D: Software licensing
License
License (Infotech governance policy ethics and law · Appendix D: Software licensing) — "An author may write their own license or have a lawyer draft one. It is…
Ideas in this flowchart
- Choosing a software license requires careful consideration of legal conditions and usage scenarios.
- An author may write the license personally or have a lawyer draft it.
- It is difficult to anticipate every circumstance in which people may use or distribute the program.
- It may be unclear whether someone can sell the program on a CD-ROM.
- The license may need to distinguish between a CD-ROM containing a software collection and one containing only the program.
- The author may need to determine whether modified versions can use the same name.
- Even known conditions are difficult to express correctly in legally binding language.
- A broad permission to use, modify, and distribute a program may still fail to authorize distribution of modified versions.
- Using a standard license is recommended in most cases.
- Writing a custom license is appropriate only when the author has a compelling reason and is prepared to engage a lawyer.
