The document discusses open source licensing. Open source licenses must be approved by the Open Source Initiative and meet the Open Source Definition. There are over 50 approved licenses including GPL, LGPL, MPL and BSD. Open source licenses grant rights to copy, adapt or distribute code to create a community of contributors to fix and develop the software. Combining code under different licenses can be complex. There is no requirement to release changes made to open source software under a license; modified internal versions can be kept private.

1. OPEN SOURCE LICENSING
The licence is what determines whether software is
open source
The licence must be approved by the Open Source
Initiative (www.opensource.org)
All approved licences meet their Open Source
Definition
(www.opensource.org/docs/definition.php)
Approved licences >50 and include the GPL, LGPL,
MPL and BSD.
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2. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
 Writing software = creating property
 Property is always owned by somebody
 Agreements and contracts should specify who
owns property that is created
 This may require a technical legal examination of
any agreement and contracts
 All projects which produce software need to keep
complete, detailed records of the licensing and
ownership of contributions to that software - an
IPR registry
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3. COPYRIGHT
 Software is protected by copyright law
 By default only the owner of software may copy, adapt
or distribute it.
 The owner of software can agree to let another person
copy, adapt or distribute the code - this agreement is
called a licence.
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4. LICENCE EFFECTS
 Open source licences grant the rights to copy, adapt or
distribute the code to people other than the owner
 Open source licences aim to create a community of
contributors who will fix and develop the software.
 Combining two pieces of software code under different
licences can be complex.
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5. A COMMON MYTH
 There is no compulsion to release changes that you
make, either under the GPL or any other open source
licence
 You may keep internal versions of GPL software that
you have modified without necessarily licensing them
to anyone else
 This applies equally to individuals and legal entities
like companies and institutions.
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6. A COMMON MYTH
 There is no compulsion to release changes that you
make, either under the GPL or any other open source
licence
 You may keep internal versions of GPL software that
you have modified without necessarily licensing them
to anyone else
 This applies equally to individuals and legal entities
like companies and institutions.
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