Questions tagged [copyright]
For questions about the copyrighting process and principles. Questions solely pertaining to general copyright are off topic.
19 questions from the last 365 days
4
votes
1
answer
161
views
How to Comply With MIT Licensed SVG In Print
I have found an MIT licensed SVG that I wish to use in print, for instance a business card.
The relevant part of the MIT license:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be ...
- 141
2
votes
1
answer
274
views
BSD Licensed code used as a part of a research project
I'm currently learning a bit more about software licenses and have realized how permissive the 3-clause BSD license is. I have a small question. If I use BSD licensed code for a computation in a ...
- 21
0
votes
0
answers
56
views
Is it legal and ethical to copy someone else's GitHub Gist into my own repository? [duplicate]
I'm writing a Markdown file for personal documentation and learning purposes. I found a useful piece of code in a public GitHub Gist, but also I changed it a bit to fit my needs. I'd like to include ...
- 185
31
votes
11
answers
55k
views
How does a programmer ever produce original code if anything they produce is considered derivative because they viewed similar source code?
I'm very confused by what I'm finding on this site. On one hand, it appears as if no programmer is even capable of producing original code if they have ever viewed a source code for a program which ...
- 449
0
votes
1
answer
115
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Using an oss as a guidebook without license infringement
I know of an open source software (a game engine, server/client/website+database) that does many of the things I need my software to do. I will have to gut and replace certain portions entirely (the ...
- 449
3
votes
0
answers
36
views
How to distribute LGPL2.1 dependency shared lib with a python package?
I am working on python bindings for a C library, which uses LGPL2.1.
My Python bindings for the library link dynamically against it. For the python bindings to work when installed I need to ship them ...
- 131
7
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Reimplementation of UI/UX ideas of commercial software in open source (MIT)
What are the legal implications of making an open source implementation (under MIT license) of commercial (closed source) software ideas in terms of UI/UX, logic of interface and general workflow, and ...
- 73
4
votes
2
answers
2k
views
What parts of code are protected by copyright?
Open Source licenses are all underpinned by copyright law. Without copyright law, Open Source would fall apart.
Copyright was originally written for creative works, and does not protect facts, ideas, ...
- 209
8
votes
1
answer
6k
views
I made a license for my X.com account. Is this legally binding?
So I made this license, in the style of GPL3 as a humorous pinned post for my profile on X.com. But now I'm wondering if this is actually legally binding? I would like it to be.
Account Content ...
- 83
9
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Is there any point to the copyright notice in 0BSD?
The 0BSD license template contains a copyright notice line.
Copyright (c) [year] [fullname]
Permission to use, copy, modify, and/or distribute this software for any
purpose with or without fee is ...
- 223
3
votes
2
answers
131
views
Does adding license headers to files without existing headers count as my modification to an Apache 2.0-licensed project?
I recently used a starter template project for an API that is under the Apache 2.0 License, where the project doesn't have a NOTICE file and individual files in that project don't have their own ...
3
votes
1
answer
86
views
Is it possible to use library as private confidential in GPL 3.0 Project
I have a project (for context it's Android) that is GPL 3.0 License and wants to append a library as a private non-license or MIT Personal License.
Is it possible to achieve that without violating the ...
- 141
0
votes
1
answer
68
views
Can I use GPL 3.0 license project as library to my private project with MIT license
I'm working on a private project and considering integrating a library that is licensed under the GPL 3.0 (GNU General Public License version 3.0). However, my project itself is licensed under the MIT ...
- 141
2
votes
0
answers
50
views
Do I meet the conditions of GPLv3 license?
GitHub says GPLv3 licence conditions are:
License and copyright notice
State changes
Disclose source
Same license
License and copyright notice: How do I write copyright notice? Is it enough to write ...
- 41
2
votes
0
answers
69
views
How to open-source code for an ebook-style iOS Qt app but retain control of the content? [duplicate]
Years ago (whenever Qt 5.7 was current), as a contractor I developed a closed source tablet app for a company with (at the time) a commercial license for Qt (they assigned me a license seat). The app ...
- 121
5
votes
3
answers
2k
views
How much of a given work of software can be claimed under fair use? [closed]
I've found that my most recent project has been taking a significant portion code from a GNU GPL code base. While i’m aware that the nature of copyright law allows for such usage, I’m unclear about ...
- 209
2
votes
1
answer
133
views
Can one of several heirs of a copyright release it under a Creative Commons license, and if so, how?
Alice created a work and died without publishing it. Bob and Charlie jointly inherited the copyright. All three live(d) in the United States. Bob wants to publish the work under a Creative Commons ...
- 307
3
votes
1
answer
148
views
Someone wants to contribute code with a copyright notice. Should I be concerned?
I maintain a parser combinator library called Parjs, licensed under the MIT license. I’ve received a PR that contains a copyright notice by Oracle.
I was under the impression that whoever contributes ...
- 133
18
votes
1
answer
8k
views
How do I release code written for a company to the public?
I'm working on a Unity project for a company and, while doing so, I wrote some code that I think would be cool to have it on the internet, free to use.
But I never released something that is owned by ...
- 183