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I just started my career as an online freelancer and even though I try to do my best I have this constant stress & anxiety about what will happen if there is a huge unwanted issue/bug in my code that might hold me responsible for any possible future damages caused by the code?

For that reason, I started putting MPL-2 "LICENSE" file in my root directory of projects before delivering them, so basically my clients can do whatever they want with the code, re-sell it, publish it online, etc. I also offer 6-months of free bug fixing to them.

Is that enough to not to be held responsible? (am I doing it right?)

Any help is greatly appreciated.

P.S. I'm a PHP coder so the source is always provided to the customer

P.P.S. In case it's relevant, I am diagnosed with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)

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    Disclaimers of liability are highly jurisdiction-dependent and might not be effective. Licensing your software under an open source license just to disclaim liabilities/warranties is a bad idea. It would be better if the contract with your customer covers liability issues.
    – amon
    Commented Aug 18, 2019 at 10:54
  • @amon That is a great comment thank you, but I have no contract at all, I'm working on freelancer.com , so basically I do the job and they pay. my clients are from EU and U.S. , what should I do then? can you please advice.
    – J. Doe
    Commented Aug 18, 2019 at 13:50
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    @J.Doe By the way we on this forum (or any public forum) cannot give legal advice. If this is for your business and you need professional advice the normal advice applies - hire a lawyer and get professional advice on this.
    – Brandin
    Commented Sep 17, 2019 at 11:20

1 Answer 1

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Most, if not all, software license agreements place the blame of any damages onto the user of the software, not the developer.

You should have a close read of sections six and seven of the MPL-2 (abbreviated below).

  1. Disclaimer of Warranty

Covered Software is provided under this License on an "as is" basis, without warranty of any kind... Should any Covered Software prove defective in any respect, You (not any Contributor) assume the cost of any necessary servicing, repair, or correction. ...

  1. Limitation of Liability

Under no circumstances ... shall any Contributor, or anyone who distributes Covered Software as permitted above, be liable to You for any direct, indirect, special, incidental, or consequential damages of any character including, without limitation, damages for lost profits, loss of goodwill, work stoppage, computer failure or malfunction, or any and all other commercial damages or losses, even if such party shall have been informed of the possibility of such damages. ...

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  • Thank you very much for the reply, yes those 2 sections are exactly why I used MPL-2 (also because it requires no [year] or [fullname]) , But I'm wondering if it is legally acceptable to license under it to avoid further liability.
    – J. Doe
    Commented Aug 18, 2019 at 13:58
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    @J.Doe Whether that term actually legally removes your liability or not is probably more of a question for the Law StackExchange. See for example What is a software developers liability for medical devices
    – Brandin
    Commented Sep 17, 2019 at 11:18

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