Licensing and You

Chris Tankersley

Nomad PHP – September 2014

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Who Am I?

● Chris Tankersley

● A PHP Developer for 10 Years● Been Interested in Copyright/Licensing for a long time

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First, Some Housekeeping

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First

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IANAL

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Second

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Third

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All Hail The One True Editor

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And Fourth

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This Can Be Complicated

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</housekeeping>

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Licenses

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Licenses

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A Quick Detour - Copyright

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What is Copyright?

“Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, that grants the creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually

for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator of intellectual wealth (e.g. the photographer of a photograph or the author of a book) to

receive compensation for their work and be able to financially support themselves.

Copyright is a form of intellectual property (as patents, trademarks and trade secrets are), applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that is substantive and discrete.[1] It is often shared, then percentage holders are

commonly called rightsholders: legally, contractually and in associated "rights" business functions.[citation needed] Generally rightsholders have

"the right to copy", but also the right to be credited for the work, to determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the

work, who may financially benefit from it, and other related rights.”

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The Employment Trap

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Licenses

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What Is a License?

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Many Different Kinds

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Propriety Software Licensing

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Getting Source != Open Source

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Open Source Licensing

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Freedom (Mostly)

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Freedom (Mostly)

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Copyleft Licenses

A type of license that makes the software free and requires

all modifications and extensions to be free as well

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● GNU GPL● Creative Commons ShareAlike● Public Domain

Examples

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Non-Copyleft Licenses

When the author gives permission to redistribute and

modify, but there are other restrictions

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Examples

● BSD License● MIT License● Pretty much anything not GPL(-derived)

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Which To Choose?

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It Depends

● Copyleft makes sure your code is always stays free

● Non-Copyleft is more developer friendly

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Another Quick Detour

Creative Commons should not be used for software, only for graphics/text

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No Time For Questions :(

● @dragonmantank● chris@ctankersley.com● dragonmantank (freenode)

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Thanks!