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I took an open source project that is published under the MIT License and I want to re-release it on an App Store. (After I updated the SDK and switched from JavaScript to TypeScript).

But now the original developer (and only contributor) of the project contacted me and wants me to NOT release it to this App Store because he has a problem with this company.

Can he use legal means prevent this?

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    Comments are not for extended discussion; this conversation has been moved to chat.
    – MadHatter ♦
    Oct 31, 2022 at 7:41

2 Answers 2

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Can he legally prevent me from doing this even though his license says otherwise?

By releasing the source under an MIT licence, the rightsholder has explicitly given you permission to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software. So: provided you comply with the obligations of the MIT licence, then no, (s)he cannot prevent you from doing this.

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    Yes, and specifically you need to include the license, with the copyright attribution to them.
    – Marcel
    Oct 31, 2022 at 10:13
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    Note that the MIT license says nothing about trademark, only copyright. The author may have a common-law trademark on the name, so you should probably rename the software before publishing it.
    – Mark
    Oct 31, 2022 at 20:56
  • I beg people to stop discussing general questions of MIT licence compliance, and the pitfalls thereof, in this comments field. If the OP hasn't mentioned it, you don't need to discuss it here.
    – MadHatter ♦
    Oct 31, 2022 at 23:29
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In general, the accepted answer is right.

Just a side note, though: if the employer strongly asserts ownership of this project (say the employee signed an agreement giving the employer ownership of all IP they created), then the code may not be MIT licensed at all and would have always been closed-source.

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    The general principle is a good one, but I don't think the OP makes any mention of an employer.
    – MadHatter ♦
    Oct 31, 2022 at 15:43

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