Questions tagged [copyright]
Software copyright is the extension of copyright law to machine-readable software
179 questions
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Copyright statements in source code [closed]
Ever since I started programming I've seen a header at the top of most code files indicating some sort of copyright: e.g.
/* Copyright (c) 1998 Innotech */
or
/* Copyright (c) 1998-2008 Innotech */...
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Is renewal of MIT license needed on github at the beginning of each year?
I am using the MIT LICENSE in all of my github projects. The second line says 2013 at the top. For having the copyright to hold in future(i.e. after 2013) does it need to be changed each year or is it ...
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Developer name in the copyright notice of files contributed to open source project?
I am developing a small application which I want to make open source.
Currently only my work is on the application, and so in all the files I have put up a copyright notice in my name.
Now when I ...
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Do software licenses (ie, MIT) need to be included with the executable?
Whenever a software license reads:
... The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
Does this mean you have to ...
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4
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What copyright date for an update to an open-source project from last year?
In 2011, I released some open-source code that was licensed using the Apache license. As such, all the source files have this boiler plate message at the top:
/*
Copyright 2011 My Name
...
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Automatically update copyright date range from git?
As I write, we're 10 days into 2012. I bet many programmers are editing the copyright string at the top of their source files to something like:
// Copyright 2008, 2010-2012 Some Company Unlimited
...
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Can an 81 digit number generator lead to copyright infringement? [closed]
I'm looking to write a program that will generate valid sudoku puzzles. Essentially, a sudoku puzzle is just an 81 digit number. (The blanks are zeroes.) I would then like to use these puzzles in an ...
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How to handle modification on MIT Licenced project
I'm about to fork an MIT licenced project, I'm planning to use it as a starter. I was wondering how I have to handle the licence.
What I understand
When I will mimifie my javascript application, I'll ...
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Is it legal to reflector some .NET code and use it in a commercial application?
I'm working on a commercial application that requires .NET 4.0 Client Profile, but I need to make a call to HttpUtility.ParseQueryString, which is not included in the Client Profile but it is in the ...
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Copyrighting software, templates, etc. under real name or screen name?
My question is hopefully simple - should I copyright my work (art, software, web design, etc.) under my real name or my screen name? My real name and screen name are also easily connected with a bit ...
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How does fair use apply to code snippets? [closed]
Is there a size where you can copy under fair use for code you don't have a license for the purpose? For example, what if I copy a snippet that is (normally) 3 lines of code? Is that fair use? If it ...
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Do legal names matter with source code licensing in the USA? [closed]
If a project wishes to relicense its source code to a license that was incompatible with the original license, the project maintainers generally need to seek the express approval of its contributors ...
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How to copyright personal code
I am writing a program using VBA because its readily available, the code will be available to Cracks even though I password protect it. I knew this when I chose VBA because portability is more ...
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How do I properly credit authors of software released under the MIT license?
I have modified the source code of an MIT licensed project, and I have added new classes to it as well. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think that it is legal to add my copyright notice above ...
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How to protect my program? [duplicate]
I want to release a program, my first program, but I don't know how to protect it. By protecting it I mean protect it against piracy and getting copied by others. Is there anything I can do to protect ...
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MIT and copyright
I am contributing to a library that is licensed under the MIT license.
In the license and in each class file it has a comment at the top saying:
Copyright (c) 2011 Joe Bloggs <joe.bloggs@...
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Copyright notices/disclaimers in source files
It's a common practice to place copyright notices, various legal disclaimers and sometimes even full license agreements in each source file of an open-source project. Is this really necessary for a (1)...
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Open source code with no license... can I fork it?
Years ago somebody created a bunch of really awesome and popular scripts. But they were not updated for a long, now they no-longer work (target platform were updated, and some changes are needed).
He ...
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Are there accepted alternatives to having boilerplate (e.g. copyright, OSS, xport ctrl, classification) in the sourcecode itself?
An increasing amount of effort is being put in keeping company code "boilerplate" header up-to-date according to classifications and templates from an external application, leading to "source code ...
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If I develop a media player for mobile or desktop do I have to pay for a license if my player is able to read MP3 files?
I know MP3 is not open source format but proprietary and I found this website http://mp3licensing.com/help/developers.html that states that you need a license for basically everything that uses MP3.
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Is modification allowed if license does not mention it? [closed]
I recently came across this license agreement on software:
Personal Use License
The content owner grants the buyer a non-exclusive, perpetual, personal use
license to view, download, display,...
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2
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Who owns modifications to open-source software?
Suppose a piece of software is distributed under some permissive license, e.g. BSD. Now, I modify this software and want to distribute my derivative work. My questions:
Who is the owner of the ...
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how to properly copyright my code on github?
I just completed a research project in computer science for a college professor and I wanted to upload it to github so that people can use it and possibly benefit from it for free. What do I have to ...
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Contributions of a problematic team member to an open source project [closed]
I'm currently coordinating the development of a software for a certain scientific computational task. The developers are all working on the project on a voluntary basis. Our goal is to publish the ...
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Legality of website forking? [closed]
In general, what is the legality of website forking?
I am based in the United Kingdom and intending to host my website on U.S. or Canadian servers.
I am looking at creating a website about ...
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Can you license a fork of a public domain library?
The original library has this statement in its readme, with a link to CC0 1.0.
To the extent possible by law, [redacted] Company, LLC has waived all
copyright and related or neighboring rights to ...
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What kind of license/copyright is this? Can I use this in a GPLv3 licensed project? [closed]
I intent to release my code under the GPLv3 license. No problem to do this, until I came upon a 3rd party file. Their owners have the following statement in it (and no other statement regarding ...
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How to manage a copyright notice in an open source project?
I'm working on, and adding to, a GitHub-hosted project that includes this LICENCE.md (apparently the MIT licence verbatim):
Copyright (c) 2012 [Acme Corp]
Permission is hereby granted, free of ...
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How to avoid accidental Copyright Infringement? [closed]
If I were to write a security application and sell it or "opensource" it, how would I avoid writing the same code coincidentally if I cannot review source code of other programs out there? (and ...
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How to preserve authorship of a forked repository on GitHub?
Say, a repository licensed under BSD-2 license has been forked on GitHub. A major refactoring is happening and new features are going to be added. No interactions with the original repository is ...
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Modifying an Apache 2 licensed file and add MIT license to it [closed]
TLDR;
I'd like to add a (modification) copyright and a MIT License to an Apache 2 licensed file, which I modified.
Description
I modified a file that was licensed Apache 2. According to what I ...
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Should we compile and ship libraries with debug information whenever possible?
There is considerable cost (and pain) for developers to debug external libraries due to the fact that many libraries are distributed in two editions: one with debug information, other without. The ...
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Is BSD-3 compatible with dual licensing?
I am planning to write some financial modeling software targeting enterprises. It will be based on an existing open-source project that already has a BSD-3 license. I do not own the copyright to the ...
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Exclude files from open source license?
I'd like to use the MIT License for a project I'm working on. Most of the files in the repository are mine but 1 had to be copied from another open-source project (also under the MIT License).
What ...
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Copying and pasting is bad. What about reimplementing? [duplicate]
So, we have a problem. I googled to find if it was a solved problem, and found a link describing an algorithm which is just about what we need. They also included a sample implementation. Just, not a ...
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Why isn't the C standard free? [duplicate]
I'm gradually learning C, and, after my best attempt at piracy, have resigned myself to the fact that I will have to either shell out $60 to ANSI or settle for pirating the penultimate draft hosted on ...
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Software licensing and Copyright of Open source
I have seen some source code containing Copyright notice in the beginning of the file. Most of them are either GNU General Public License or Apache License. If I want to develop any open source ...
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Adding a new file to a GPL project - how do I carry along/modify copyright information?
Continuing from Author has inserted copyright into code with gnu public license notice - implications?, can I add my author name to a new file (with original code) that I added to a project that comes ...
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May I include parts of MIT-licensed code inside my closed-source project?
This could be a simple yes/no answer, but I invite detailed explanations.
Scenario
I have been asked to extend a closed source system at my job, which is not formally released under any license. I ...
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3
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What does it mean for a software to be copyrighted, but the source is also offered?
I recently found a website (LINK) which explains various ways of performing curve fitting using Math.Net. This is one of the only websites I have found that explains the methods and also provides ...
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Does a license need to go at the top always?
Let's say I have a source file of 800 lines, and I want to "copy/paste" one function from a github project that has a MIT license, and I also have my own (which may be a MIT license, or a stronger one)...
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May I relicense my project from GPLv3 to Apache 2.0? [duplicate]
I am about to publish an Android app project I would like to do it using GPLv3 license to avoid it being used in proprietary projects for now.
If I change my mind in the future, since I am the ...
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Licensing and copyright terms for data from Wikipedia
I have an idea for a client-server software project which involves using information from Wikipedia, but I am not sure about what the conditions for using it in regards of licensing and copyrights ...
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Redistribution in binary form - Copyright notice in Javascript
I want to distribute a single exe file, which is a simple http web server. This exe contains all the dependency html/js files (mostly licensed under MIT and New BSD)
I really don't know if that's ...
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Can I minify Javascript that requires copyright notice?
I guess this is actually a legal question, but it relates to software. I'm about to include a JS plugin in a project. The comments include:
Redistributions of source code must
retain the above ...
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2
answers
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Tracking software piracy to gauge strength of anti-piracy measures [closed]
I've been looking up this thread on how software piracy can be prevented. It's got a number of interesting suggestions ranging from using copy protection to providing free versions, and not ...
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personal repository with copyright/bsd notice tranferred to organization
If a personal repository with copyright/bsd license file is transferred to a github organization that consists of more than just the original copyright holder, since a group of people (the ...
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GPLv3 licensed library requirement and licensing own library BSD [closed]
I have been searching the web for quite some time now, but the plethora of opinions/comments/articles about licensing questions make it difficult to verify how trustworthy the various sources are. ...
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How to manage copyright notices from contributors to a BSD licensed project
We have the following BSD license in the LICENSE file:
Copyright (c) 2006-2016 SymPy Development Team
All rights reserved.
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
...
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What's the best license for my website?
I have developed a unique website but do not have a lot of fund to protect it with trademark or patents. I'm looking for suggestions so that when my supervisor gets my codes, some laws restrict anyone ...
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