80
votes
Accepted
Can I license my project with an open-source license but disallow commercial use?
No free/open-source license may disallow commercial use.
The whole purpose of the Free and Open movements is an altruistic one: if you're making your project free and open, you're gifting it to the ...
- 9,298
43
votes
Can the MIT license be applied to music?
Can it be applied? Yes. But it would seem unhelpful to make anybody using the music to repeat the contents of the MIT license which makes multiple references to "Software"; that is at best ...
- 18.5k
42
votes
How can I deal with this (predatory?) scenario?
TL;DR: Open Source is not about fairness, but about Software Freedom. It is irrational to publish Open Source, and to be then surprised that others are exercising their freedoms. Once a company has ...
- 38.6k
38
votes
Is there a generally accepted "anti-copyleft" clause or license?
To my knowledge there is no such license. Note that this license may not be considered an open-source license. In no case would such a license be a permissive license that could be compatible with MIT ...
- 38.6k
37
votes
Accepted
Is there a generally accepted "anti-copyleft" clause or license?
the code or derivative works can never be re-licensed under a GPL/Copyleft license
Ironically, I think the best practical strategy to accomplish this is to license your work under a (very weak) ...
- 35.6k
35
votes
Which license can protect a software to be distribute without changes under a different name?
This license isn't going to do what you want it to, for two reasons:
I get the code, I add one space to an error message. It's now a modified version, so I can distribute it.
I get the code. "My ...
- 18.5k
34
votes
Accepted
Is there a license like MIT that explicitly forbids the use of AI?
The question here remains "is the AI model a derivative work of the training inputs?"
If it is, then all the AI companies are already in violation of copyright and you don't need a specific ...
- 18.5k
31
votes
Locking myself from ever changing license
You can't do anything within the constraints of copyright law as the copyright holder is never restricted by the license.
Practically if you accept contributions from a large number of contributors ...
- 18.5k
24
votes
Accepted
Which license can protect a software to be distribute without changes under a different name?
My colleague has posted an excellent explanation of why a licence that does exactly what you've asked for would be pointless. It would also be non-free, because the right to distribute both non-...
- 47k
24
votes
Accepted
How can I judge the "strength" of a licence?
Speaking about “strength” is a simplification. Recipients must comply with all the licenses of all the components that are part of the program, and you cannot choose a license that makes compliance ...
- 38.6k
21
votes
Open-source license to prevent commercial use?
There is now a license specifically designed to create source-available software for non-commercial use, namely the Commons Clause License.
There have been some very strong characters in the history ...
- 361
19
votes
Is there a generally accepted "anti-copyleft" clause or license?
If you release your code under a permissive license, it is not possible for anyone to "relicense" it under a less permissive one like the GPL. By issuing a permissive license, you grant everyone the ...
18
votes
Accepted
Open-source license to prevent commercial use?
What you are looking for is, I think, the common practice of selling exceptions.
When an organization or a company is the sole copyright owner of a software, or have a permission to do so from all ...
- 5,557
18
votes
Locking myself from ever changing license
You may assign the copyright of your project to a trusted organization. While you, as the copyright holder, may change the license freely, transferring your rights to someone else removes that ability....
- 353
17
votes
Is there a good license for a libertarian programmer who's against intellectual property?
Anyone may use the software for any purpose they choose ...
However, no one may place any type of restrictions on my software
Your basic problem is that these are self-contradictory aims. In the ...
- 47k
17
votes
Accepted
Pros and Cons of using MPL-2.0 license?
Am I allowed to distribute the project for money under this license?
Yes. However, if you distribute/sell binaries, then you may not charge extra for the source code.
And, as the MPL license is a ...
17
votes
Can I license my project with an open-source license but disallow commercial use?
Yes you can (but with big caveats)
There are several licences that disallow commercial use of the software (or other intellectual property). Most notably CC BY-NC 3.0 but please keep in mind that it'...
17
votes
Accepted
License that allows contribution and distribution but no custom builds
There is no open source license that would satisfy these requirements because it goes against the fundamental principles of Software Freedom and the Open Source Definition. The freedom to create (...
- 38.6k
17
votes
Is requiring a link to my site allowed for a FOSS license?
The idea to force users of the software to advertise the original author is not new. It was first seen in the 4-clause BSD License. There was a lot of criticism about the advertising clause, and it ...
- 7,079
16
votes
How can I forbid shady resale practices?
Let's examine the MIT licence:
Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holders]
Standard copyright string
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software ...
- 261
16
votes
Which FSF- or OSI-approved licenses limit corporate usage in spirit, but not in letter?
Frame challenge: neither the FSF nor OSI have point 2 as a goal. To quote the FSF:
“Free software” does not mean “noncommercial”. A free program must be available for commercial use, commercial ...
- 268
16
votes
"Pure Copyleft" Software Licenses? (with no additional restrictions)
I don't think you'll square this circle. You write
The problem I have with the GPLv3 and AGPL license is how they restrict the intermediate users, while the problem I have with the MIT license is ...
- 47k
15
votes
I want to make my private GitHub repo public; can I put part of it under MIT license, and keep the rest protected?
There's no legal problem doing that, but it is confusing, and it's almost inevitable that some people will think the MIT license will apply to the whole repository.
This is a situation where a git ...
- 7,728
15
votes
Which FSF- or OSI-approved licenses limit corporate usage in spirit, but not in letter?
While the question is valid, the broadest ideal of open-source is to make all software open-sourced, including that which is used for profit.
Broadly, some strong-copyleft OSS licenses have a "viral" ...
14
votes
Is there a one-stop guide to choose a licence?
That would be GitHub's Choose a License tool.
This wizard will let you choose what you're most concerned about - be it giving maximum freedom to your users, preventing patent claims, or ensuring that ...
- 2,120
14
votes
Accepted
License that requires attribution to end users?
Your interpretations are generally correct.
Nearly all open source licenses require some amount of attribution, with exception of 0BSD and some niche crayon licenses like WTFPL.
The MIT license ...
- 38.6k
14
votes
Accepted
"Pure Copyleft" Software Licenses? (with no additional restrictions)
I think another answer has done a good job articulating some philosophical incompatibilities in your requirements. I won't retread those concerns, but I'll make a feasible suggestion that might come ...
- 35.6k
13
votes
Accepted
Possibility of non-commercial ‘open-source’ and attribution based licence
If you want to restrict your software to not be used for commercial purposes, it is not open source.
You can release it under multiple licenses - such as the GPL and a commercial license (where a ...
- 2,120
13
votes
How can I forbid shady resale practices?
Changing the license at this point can't help you, they already got their copy under the original license. But, if it really is the MIT license, it has a clause in it about attribution. So, if they ...
- 503
13
votes
Accepted
Is there any reason to not use 0BSD?
I recently worked with the team at GitHub to provide more information about 0BSD. More info about Landly's 0BSD now appears on choosealicense.com and, subsequently, will appear on GitHub license drop-...
- 350
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible