Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing Mechanism: A Close Review of the Alternative Approach to Traditional Notions of Software Licensing

14 Pages Posted: 15 Dec 2017

Date Written: 2017

Abstract

The article examines how open source licensing model has changed the way of exploitation of intellectual property in the software industry. The article analyzes the OSS tendency in general, provides historical background, indicates main differences between OSS and public domain software and discuses the emergence of the OSS licensing and how OSS licensing promotes innovations in the software industry. In addition, the paper observes the main features of the most popular OSS licenses and briefly considers issues with copyrights and patents. Actually, the article argues that OSS licensing mechanism increases a public access to software and ensures collaboration between open source developers, thereby promoting future innovations in software industry. However, the paper underlines that software developers must be attentive and scrupulous in deciding which OSS licenses to choose in order to maximize innovative as well as financial benefits.

Keywords: public domain software, open source software, free software, OSS licenses

Suggested Citation

Manteghi, Maryna, Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing Mechanism: A Close Review of the Alternative Approach to Traditional Notions of Software Licensing (2017). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3082313 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3082313

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