This document discusses open source licenses and how to understand them. It explains that licenses determine how code can be shared, modified and used. There are permissive licenses that allow free use and copying, and copyleft licenses that require modifications be shared. The document provides examples of licenses like MIT, Apache and GPL. It also addresses questions around using open source code with other licenses, and choosing the right license for different situations like student projects, libraries or commercial software. Users are advised to check license terms in code documentation to understand usage rights.

1. WHAT CAN I DO WITH THAT CODE?:
UNDERSTANDING OPEN SOURCE LICENSES
Lillian Rigling
@lilyrglg
Will Cross
@tceles_B_hsup
Nushrat Khan
@brishti55

2. 2
So what’s a license
anyways?
(and why should I care?)

3. 3

4. 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7
≠ OPEN

8. 8
≠OPEN+

9. 9
=OPEN+ Open
License

10. So Many Licenses!
10

11. 11
Easy, Right?

12. Basic Terms and Issues: Free as in . . .
Free/Copyleft
“Share and Share Alike”
Permissive
“Use It However You Like”
12

13. Under the Hood
13

14. Basic Terms: How Can I Share & Combine?
Linking - Can I link this code in a library with code under a different license?
Distribution - Can I share this code with a third party?
Modification - Can I change this code, or just re-use as-is?
Private Use - Must I share my modifications with the public?
Sublicensing - Can I share my modified code under a different license?
14

15. Under the Hood
15

16. Spread the Word
16

17. Basic Terms: What Can I Use and What Must I Let
Other People Use?
Patent Grant - Protection from patent claims
Trademark Grant - Use trademarks to describe
the source of the code
17

18. 18
GO NUTS!

19. What About the Other Stuff?
● Readme files
● Web content like videos or images
● Data
● Other non-code stuff
19

20. Legalese: Wait, What?
20

21. Basic Questions
21

22. Overlaps and Differences
22

23. How do I know what to do?
Where do I find licenses?
Simply look for the word “license” in the documentation
Open source softwares that are published on GitHub should have the license that
is released under mentioned in the documentation (README.md or
LICENSE.txtfile)
Quick Search software
released by NCSU Libraries
under MIT License
Swift from Apple is using Apache
license to release their code 23

24. Case Studies: Choosing the Right License
24
“Come in we're open source” Josh French CC-BY-SA

25. Student or Freelance Coder
25
How does my
license work with
other licenses?
How can
more people
see my work?

26. Software Development in Libraries
North Carolina State University’s Office of Technology Commercialization
and New Ventures licenses research discoveries to industry, including
software. As the NCSU Libraries’ software does not have commercial
value, we have been allowed to apply an MIT License to our open source
software. Because the Apache License explicitly expresses a grant of
patent license, campus council preferred us applying licenses like the MIT
License that makes no grant of patent license.
26

27. Let’s Make Some Money!
27

28. Let’s Talk About You!
28Person Using Black Laptop Computer CC0

29. What If I Forget?
Some useful resources to read and learn about different open source licenses and
their applications
● Choose an Open Source Licence (curated by GitHub)
● Open Source Initiative - Licenses and Standards
● TL;DR Legal (crowd-sourced license breakdowns)
29