A very quick overview of licensing and copyright for developers. This is a lightning talk given for NomadPHP on September 18, 2014

1. Licensing and You
Chris Tankersley
Nomad PHP – September 2014

2. 2
Who Am I?
● Chris Tankersley
● A PHP Developer for 10 Years
● Been Interested in
Copyright/Licensing for a long
time

3. 3
First, Some Housekeeping

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First

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IANAL

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Second

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9. 9

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Third

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All Hail The One True Editor

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And Fourth

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This Can Be
Complicated

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</housekeeping>

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Licenses

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Licenses

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A Quick Detour - Copyright

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What is Copyright?
“Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, that grants the
creator of an original work exclusive rights to its use and distribution, usually
for a limited time, with the intention of enabling the creator of intellectual
wealth (e.g. the photographer of a photograph or the author of a book) to
receive compensation for their work and be able to financially support
themselves.
Copyright is a form of intellectual property (as patents, trademarks and trade
secrets are), applicable to any expressible form of an idea or information that
is substantive and discrete.[1] It is often shared, then percentage holders are
commonly called rightsholders: legally, contractually and in associated
"rights" business functions.[citation needed] Generally rightsholders have
"the right to copy", but also the right to be credited for the work, to
determine who may adapt the work to other forms, who may perform the
work, who may financially benefit from it, and other related rights.”

21. 21
The Employment Trap

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Licenses

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What Is a License?

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Many Different Kinds

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Propriety Software Licensing

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27. Getting Source != Open Source
27

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Open Source Licensing

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Freedom (Mostly)

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Freedom (Mostly)

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Copyleft Licenses
A type of license that makes
the software free and requires
all modifications and
extensions to be free as well

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Examples
● GNU GPL
● Creative Commons ShareAlike
● Public Domain

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Non-Copyleft Licenses
When the author gives
permission to redistribute and
modify, but there are other
restrictions

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Examples
● BSD License
● MIT License
● Pretty much anything not
GPL(-derived)

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Which To Choose?

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It Depends
● Copyleft makes sure your
code is always stays free
● Non-Copyleft is more
developer friendly

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Another Quick Detour
Creative Commons should not be used for
software, only for graphics/text

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No Time For Questions :(
● @dragonmantank
● chris@ctankersley.com
● dragonmantank (freenode)

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Thanks!