Copyright & License Questions

[John Cowan]

TARuiz at aol.com wrote:


> 1)  I've read that one should copyright their work and from there choose an
> Open Source license. Isn't copyrighting, though, against the concept of 
> Open Source?


No.  A public-domain work is Open Source, but most Open Source works
have copyrights.  By copyrighting (or more accurately: by not
abandoning copyright, since a document is copyrighted as soon as it
is written down), and then licensing away most of the rights, we
can keep control of whichever ones we consider to be important.


> 2) If I were to assign a copyright, is it a matter of simply placing a 
> notice of authorship and year? Is that enough in terms of a legal standpoint?


Distinguish between claiming copyright on one's own work and assigning
copyright to someone else.

To claim copyright on your own work, it suffices to say "Copyright
<author> <date>", and even this is not required by law.  However, it
ensures that no one can claim "I didn't know the work was copyrighted".

To assign copyright to someone else, except in the case of a work done
by an employee in the scope of their regular employment, a written
instrument is needed.  No particular form is required.  Consult
a lawyer.


> 3) When I choice an Open Source license or a hybrid of some sort, does one
> just simply revise/copy a template of an existing license or just write 
> a new  one and insert this along with the software?


Some licenses like the GPL are fixed texts; just provide them with the
software (usually in a file called COPYING).  The BSD license is a
template: fill in your name and provide it with the software, usually
in a file called LICENSE.

> 4) Basically are there any legal stamps that make the copyright and chosen
> licenses enforceable? And, what makes them legitimate to the community?


They are enforceable if a court enforces them.  So far, that hasn't
happened.

> 6) If I wanted to provide proprietary modules/add-ons to the Open Source
> software, what license would enable me to do so?


Almost any except the GPL.


> 7) If I had a client who hired me to do a customized and closed-version of
> the Open Source software, what license would enable me to do so?


Almost any except the GPL.

-- 
There is / one art             || John Cowan <jcowan at reutershealth.com>
no more / no less              || http://www.reutershealth.com
to do / all things             || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
with art- / lessness           \\ -- Piet Hein