Version 1.1 of the definition has been released. Please help updating it, contribute translations, and help us with the design of logos and buttons to identify free cultural works and licenses!

Licenses: Difference between revisions

From Definition of Free Cultural Works
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Line 5: Line 5:
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" style="width: 100%; text-align: center; border-collapse: collapse;"
{| class="wikitable sortable" border="1" style="width: 100%; text-align: center; border-collapse: collapse;"
! License
! License
! [[#Intended scope|Intended scope]]
! [[#Null]]
! [[#Copyleft|Copyleft]]
! [[#Null]]
! [[#Practical modifiability|Practical modifiability]]
! [[#Null]]
! [[#Attribution|Attribution]]
! [[#null]]
! [[#Related rights|Related rights]]
! [[null]]
! [[#Access control prohibition|Access control prohibition]]
! [[null]]
! [[#Worldwide applicability|Worldwide applicability]]
! [[null]]
|-
|-
| [[#Against DRM|Against DRM]]
| [[#Against DRM|Against DRM]]
Line 17: Line 17:
| {{no|Normal}}
| {{no|Normal}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{partial|Copyright notice}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no|Licensor & Licensee}}
| {{no}}
| Exact translations
| {{no|}}
|  
|-
|-
| [[#CC0 Public Domain Dedication|CC0 Public Domain Dedication]]
| [[no]]
| Generic
|  
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
Line 31: Line 31:
| Same license (English version)
| Same license (English version)
|-
|-
| [[#Creative Commons Attribution|Creative Commons Attribution]]
| [[#Terminated]]
| Generic
|  
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
Line 40: Line 40:
| National adaptations  
| National adaptations  
|-
|-
| [[#Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike|Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike]]
| [[#Null]]
| Generic
|  
| {{no|Normal}}
| {{no|No}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
Line 48: Line 48:
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
|-
|-
| [[#Design Science License|Design Science License]]
| [[#Null]]
| Generic, optimally science data
| {{no|No}}
| {{no|Normal}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{partial|Copyright notice}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| Same license (English version)
| Same license (English version)
|-
|-
| [[#Free Art License|Free Art License]]
| [[#Null]]
| Works of art
|  
| {{no|Normal}}
| {{no|no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}
| Exact translations (USA law)
|-
|-
| [[#FreeBSD Documentation License|FreeBSD Documentation License]]
| [[#Null]]
| Documentation
|  
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{No}}
| {{No}}
| {{partial|Copyright notice}}
| {{no}}
| {{NO}}
| {{NO}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| Same license (English version)
|  
|-
|-
| [[#GNU Free Documentation License|GNU Free Documentation License]]
|  
| Documentation
| {{no|Normal}}
| {{no|Normal}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
Line 82: Line 79:
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| Same license (English version)
|  
|-
|
| [[#GNU Lesser General Public License|GNU Lesser General Public License]]
|  
| Generic, optimally Software
|  
|  
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}
| Same license (English version)
|
|-
|  
| [[#GNU General Public License|GNU General Public License]]
| Generic, optimally Software
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
Line 101: Line 95:
| {{no}
| {{no}
|-
|-
| [[#Lizenz für Freie Inhalte|Lizenz für Freie Inhalte]]
|  
| Generic
|  
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
Line 110: Line 104:
)
)
|-
|-
| [[#MirOS Licence|MirOS Licence]]
| [[
| Generic (software, content, …)
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
Line 117: Line 110:
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| Same licence (English version)
|  
|-
|-
| [[#MIT License|MIT License]]
|  
| Software
|  
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{partial|Copyright notice}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| {{no}}
| Same license (English version)
|  
|}
|


== List of licenses ==
== List of licenses ==

Revision as of 21:26, 2 August 2021

Comparison of Licenses

License #Null #Null #Null #null null null null
Against DRM Works Normal No No No
no No No No No No Same license (English version)
#Terminated No No No No No National adaptations
#Null No No No No No
#Null No No No No No Same license (English version)
#Null no No No No {{no}
#Null No No No Template:NO No
Normal No No No No No No No {{no} No No No No {{no}
No No No No No

)

[[ No No Copyright notice No No
No No No No No

List of licenses

Against DRM

BSD-like non-copyleft licenses

In parallel with the set of GNU licenses (including the GNU GPL), the free software world evolved a number of very simple permissive (copyfree) licenses. These licenses are so simple that no dedicated text is needed to expose the terms of the license. To reuse such a license, you must take its text and replace the copyright notice with your own. Since these licenses are non-copyleft, changing the license text in such a way does not prevent reuse between works from happening.

Regardless of their wording, these licenses always grant the user very broad rights, including the right to modify and distribute without supplying any source code. Also, their concise wording makes them simple to understand and unambiguous as to their effects.

These licenses are often called "BSD-like" because the first occurrence of such a license has been the license under which the Berkeley Software Distribution (one of the first free versions of Unix) was shipped to users.

One should distinguish the original BSD license with its controversial advertising clause from the revised BSD license that does not have the advertising clause.

CC0 Public Domain Dedication

  • Aliases: CC-0, Creative Commons Zero
  • Current version: 1.0

CERN OHL

The CERN Open Hardware License (CERN OHL) is a license used in open-source hardware projects (OSHW).

Creative Commons Attribution

Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike

Design Science License

FreeBSD Documentation License

Although especially written for the FreeBSD project, this license shows you how to draft a very simple non-copyleft license for documentation works.

GNU Free Documentation License

Invariant sections

Invariant sections are a special provision of the GFDL which, if used, prevent anyone from modifying the parts of the work which are defined as "invariant". The Free Software Foundation finds it useful to protect some special "non-functional" parts of the work, like a statement of intent (the motivation for invariant sections was, allegedly, to prevent the GNU Manifesto to be removed or modified in GNU documentations).

We believe, however, that freedom should apply to all kind of works, and that what is "functional" in one situation can be "artistic" in another - and vice-versa. Consequently, a work using invariant sections to forbid some kinds of modifications to the work cannot be considered completely free.

Unless additional permissions are granted, all FDL works contain unmodifiable sections which aren't called Invariant Sections, such as a copy of the license embedded in the document itself.

Lizenz für Freie Inhalte

AFAIK only used by the german portal neppstar for free music and video. Anyway, it seems to be a valid free license.

MIT License

This license is arguably the simplest form of the BSD-like licenses for software. All the license, except for the no-warranty statement, is condensed in two short paragraphs.

There are variants, like the current BSD license which has an additional provision forbidding endorsement of derived works using the name of the original authors.

Open Publication License

The Open Publication License (OPL) was among the earliest open-content licenses -- it predates the 2002 GFDL by over 3 years.

The Fedora project selected the OPL for their documentation. (At various times, the Fedora project released their documentation under the GNU FDL, the OPL, and CC-by-SA. See https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Archive:Relicensing_OPL_to_CC_BY_SA?rd=Relicensing_OPL_to_CC_BY_SA http://iquaid.org/2009/07/06/why-relicense-fedora-documentation-and-wiki-content/ for details).

Open Source Hardware

Open Source Hardware OSHW is apparently "a standard by which to evaluate licenses for hardware designs".

Commentary on non-free licenses