#COPYLESS SOFTWARE SOFTWARE#
All open-source licenses must allow distribution in some way - meaning anyone who receives open-source software can inspect and/or alter the code. What is Copyleft?Īs the use of open-source software increases, many open source licenses use copyleft. This permission is a "license" and may come with certain conditions attached, such as attribution. No one can take copywritten code and republish, perform, or modify it without permission from the developer or company. The definition of copyright depends on the industry, but the generalized definition from Merriam Webster states: “the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish, sell, or distribute the matter and form of something.” In software development, the matter and form is the code used in a piece of software and the final program.Ĭopyright automatically attaches to a work without registration. Copyright and copyleft fall under the same legal framework, meaning they have many of the same rules and regulations. In order to understand copyleft and what it may mean for software development, it is important to break down the term: Copyleft vs Copyrightīefore understanding copyleft, developers and IT leaders must understand copyright. Software licensing creates many questions and debates - and one of the biggest ones is copyleft entitlement. It is a method for making a program, code, or another piece of work free as well as any subsequent versions or modifications to that program. Copyleft is a term used primarily when discussing licensing for Open Source Code usage.