173
votes
Accepted
What are the essential differences between the BSD and MIT licences?
When talking about BSD license, you have to be aware that there is not one, but actually four different BSD licenses. The most basic is the zero-clause BSD license which is basically a public domain ...
- 11.5k
34
votes
Do the licences permit GPL- and BSD-licensed applications to be used for government work?
The definition of Free Software includes anyone being able to use the software for any purpose (any field of endeavor and no discrimination against persons or groups). So no version of the GPL, or ...
- 975
32
votes
Accepted
Can someone re-license my BSD-3-licensed project under the MIT license, remove my copyright notices, and list me as a "collaborator" without consent
The 3BSD licence requires (in clause 1) that your copyright notices be preserved, and that some licence text be reproduced, whenever your code is copied. But it does not require that that licence ...
- 43.4k
28
votes
Accepted
Can I take BSD licensed code and distribute it under GPL?
If the BSD license in question is the two- or three-clause variant (i.e. without the advertising clause), I think you're technically allowed to do it, but you couldn't really enforce it: anyone who ...
- 4,073
25
votes
What are the essential differences between the BSD and MIT licences?
A couple of things were not mentioned in the accepted answer:
documentation associated with the software
community adoption
BSD-2-Clause Plus Patent aka "BSD+Patent"
Documentation
Another ...
- 451
21
votes
Do the licences permit GPL- and BSD-licensed applications to be used for government work?
Different organizations have different policies. Google is apparently fine with GPL software, but doesn't permit AGPL. Facebook seems fine with both, but anything under the SSPL or with a Commons ...
- 43.4k
20
votes
Accepted
If I include some GPL code in my project, can I release it as BSD?
Not with the license as it is. You will need to contact all the licensors of the GPL code, and request that they release it to you in a license that is compatible with the BSD license.
Alternatively, ...
- 1,137
17
votes
Accepted
Does the three-clause BSD license hinder academic citations?
No, the third clause of the BSD license does not prevent an academic citation of your work. What it prevents is statements along the lines of
Because we have made use of tool X by @wimi, they ...
- 25.4k
17
votes
Accepted
How to change the licence of Java project from GNU/ GPL to MIT / BSD / Apache
You cannot change the license of code from others, such as mysql-connector-java. That license is set by the author of that particular component (Oracle company).
If your client stated the requirement ...
- 1,103
16
votes
Do the licences permit GPL- and BSD-licensed applications to be used for government work?
Whilst others have covered the legal aspects, I think it's worth noting there are numerous real-world examples of government agencies successfully using open-source licences without issue.
Germany's ...
16
votes
Accepted
Can someone fork my GPL licensed project and re-license it under MIT or BSD?
If your rights to a piece of software derive solely from the GPL -- and this is the usual case for most people who are redistributing GPL software -- then you cannot legally relicense under MIT, BSD, ...
15
votes
Can I take BSD licensed code and distribute it under GPL?
First of all: There are three different BSD-licenses. The original BSD-license has four clauses, including a advertisement-clause. This advertisement-clause is incompatible with the GPL, so you cannot ...
- 11k
15
votes
Can someone re-license my BSD-3-licensed project under the MIT license, remove my copyright notices, and list me as a "collaborator" without consent
The BSD-3 license is a permissive license, but even permissive licenses have restrictions that must be observed.
By removing your copyrights and license, the person who copied your code has violated ...
- 25.4k
15
votes
Accepted
Given the existence of the Apache license, and the reasons for it over MIT/BSD license, is it still safe to use MIT/BSD?
The relevant clause from Apache2 is s3:
Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a ... patent license ... If You institute patent litigation ... then ...
- 43.4k
14
votes
How is the BSD GPL-compatible?
Two licenses are compatible if it is possible to satisfy both licenses at the same time.
The GPLv2 states:
You may not impose any further restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights ...
- 37.5k
14
votes
Accepted
Patent rights: BSD-3-Clause-Clear vs BSD-3-Clause
Your understanding is incorrect.
Patents are intellectual property rights that exist to protect an invention. They are distinct from copyrights, which protect the expression of an idea.
Inventions ...
- 25.4k
14
votes
Accepted
3-Clause BSD vs AGPL for a startup FOSS product
Is the 3-clause BSD more protective for the startup rights than AGPL without creating the stigma that's around GPL?
Hard question to answer, because I don't accept that there's a "stigma" around the ...
- 43.4k
13
votes
If I include some GPL code in my project, can I release it as BSD?
No, you cannot. By including GPL-code, you are including a dependency of GPL-protected code, and therefore your code is only derived work from it. The terms of GPL requires that derived work is also ...
- 1,779
13
votes
Accepted
Do the licences permit GPL- and BSD-licensed applications to be used for government work?
Let me quote the relevant section from the GPL v3 license, emphasis mine:
2. Basic Permissions.
All rights granted under this License are granted for the term of copyright on the Program, and are ...
- 246
13
votes
Accepted
Who owns copyright if I place code in a repository but do not update the copyright notice?
To answer the question in the title of your post:
Who owns copyright if I place code in a repository but do not update the copyright notice?
You own the copyright in any code you wrote. This is ...
- 14.9k
12
votes
If I include some GPL code in my project, can I release it as BSD?
If you wrote the code yourself, then you're the licensor and can use the code as you see fit, however:
GPL does not allow sub-licensing;
If you used code from other sources (for example, Stack ...
- 221
12
votes
If I include some GPL code in my project, can I release it as BSD?
If you wrote the code, you can do whatever you want with it. You own the code, you own the copyright. A license is you granting others certain rights, but as the author you have not given up any of ...
- 274
12
votes
Can I take BSD licensed code and distribute it under GPL?
Theo de Raadt is wrong. Plain and simple.
The BSD is a permissive license which allows to incorporate the licensed work under a different license, no matter if permissive, copyleft or proprietary. ...
- 11.5k
12
votes
Accepted
Why does the clause 3 of 4-clause BSD makes it incompatible with GPL?
The GPL does not normally require licence holders to put any special acknowledgments in their advertising material. GPLv3 s7 says that any of six additional restrictions may be added to the normal ...
- 43.4k
12
votes
Accepted
Preventing commercial exploitation of small changes that require a lot of work
implement the same patches with some minor changes (e.g. replace a for with a while) under their 2-clause BSD license
While copyright is based on the implementation of an idea, it is broader than the ...
- 14.9k
12
votes
Accepted
REST Endpoint using MIT and BSD 3-clause license libraries
The two licenses that you mention are permissive licenses that are not "internet aware". The main requirements that those licenses have is that
you do not delete copyright and/or license ...
- 25.4k
11
votes
Why don't BSD developers use the SSLeay addendum if they hate GPL?
Because adding that phrase turns the license into a viral copyleft license not unlike the GPL. When you add that phrase, you could just as well use the GPL.
Those who propose the BSD over the GPL ...
- 11.5k
11
votes
Use of BSD-3 Clause license and python software license for proprietary use
BSD-3 clause is a very permissive license that does not require you disclosing your source code or the source code of the open source libraries. You are not required to allow your users to re-...
- 2,386
11
votes
Accepted
How does the BSD 2-Clause License copyright notice work?
It's always a good idea to include copyright information when using someone else's work. I'm not a lawyer, but here is my understanding:
Do I have to include the entire license in my GitHub ...
- 1,864
10
votes
Can I take BSD licensed code and distribute it under GPL?
You can legally relicense under conditions compatible with the original license (meaning most forms of the BSD license will allow relicensing under the GPL). It just carries very little meaning for ...
- 101
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible