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License-free software is
computer software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...
that is not explicitly in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
, but the authors appear to intend free use, modification, distribution and distribution of the modified software, similar to the freedoms defined for
free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...
.


Examples

Examples of license-free software formerly included programs written by Daniel J. Bernstein, such as qmail, djbdns, daemontools, and ucspi-tcp. Bernstein held the copyright and distributed these works without license until 2007. From December 28, 2007, onwards, he started placing his software in the
public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
with an explicit
waiver A waiver is the voluntary relinquishment or surrender of some known right or privilege. A waiver is often written, such as a disclaimer that has been accepted, but it may also be spoken between two or more parties. When the right to hold a ...
statement. Additionally, small scripts are frequently released without specifying a license. For example, the website Userscripts.org hosts more than 52,000 Greasemonkey user scripts, the majority of which have no specified license. Similarly, GitHub reported in 2015 that 85% of the projects it hosts are unlicensed.


Rights for users

On his ''Software users' rights'' web page, Bernstein explains his belief that under the terms of copyright law itself software users are always allowed to modify software for their personal use, regardless of license agreements. He says '"If you think you need a license from the copyright holder, you've been bamboozled by Microsoft. As long as you're not distributing the software, you have nothing to worry about."'' He also says that software users are allowed to back up, compile, and run the software that they possess. He further says that ''"since it's not
copyright infringement Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of Copyright#Scope, works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the c ...
for you to apply a patch, it's also not copyright infringement for someone to give you a patch,"'' noting the case of '' Galoob v. Nintendo'' as precedent. Thus modified versions of license-free software can legally be distributed in
source code In computing, source code, or simply code or source, is a plain text computer program written in a programming language. A programmer writes the human readable source code to control the behavior of a computer. Since a computer, at base, only ...
form in whatever way that the original can, by distributing a patch alongside it.


Reception and discussion

Advocates of license-free software, such as Bernstein, argue that
software license A software license is a legal instrument governing the use or redistribution of software. Since the 1970s, software copyright has been recognized in the United States. Despite the copyright being recognized, most companies prefer to sell lic ...
s are harmful because they restrict the freedom to use software, and copyright law provides enough freedom without the need for licenses. Though having some restrictions, these licenses allow certain actions that are disallowed by copyright laws in some jurisdictions. If a license tries to restrict an action allowed by a copyright system, by Bernstein's argument those restrictions can be ignored. In fact, Bernstein's "non-license" of verbatim retransmission of source code is very similar in nature. Similar positions on licenses are voiced by
Free culture The free-culture movement is a social movement that promotes the freedom to distribute and modify the creative works of others in the form of free content, otherwise known as open content. They encourage creators to create such content by using ...
activist Nina Paley in 2010. In 2013 Luis Villa argued similarly negative about the license usage of "open source", when the small number projects licensed on
GitHub GitHub () is a Proprietary software, proprietary developer platform that allows developers to create, store, manage, and share their code. It uses Git to provide distributed version control and GitHub itself provides access control, bug trackin ...
were noticed, identifying a "
Post Open Source Post Open (for Post Open Source) is a proposed successor to the Open Source software paradigm, originated by Bruce Perens, the creator of the Open Source Definition and co-founder of the Open Source Initiative. It is promoted at the web sitPostO ...
movement against the (license) permission culture".taking-post-open-source-seriously-as-a-statement-about-copyright-law/
on lu.is (2013)


See also

*
Anti-copyright notice An anti-copyright notice is a specific statement that is added to a work in order to encourage wide distribution. Such notices are legally required to host such specific media; under the Berne Convention in international copyright law, works are ...
*
Post Open Source Post Open (for Post Open Source) is a proposed successor to the Open Source software paradigm, originated by Bruce Perens, the creator of the Open Source Definition and co-founder of the Open Source Initiative. It is promoted at the web sitPostO ...
*
Public domain software Public-domain software is software that has been placed in the public domain, in other words, software for which there is absolutely no ownership such as copyright, trademark, or patent. Software in the public domain can be modified, distributed, ...


References


External links


17 USC 117

FSF's (erstwhile) categorisation of the qmail licence as "non-free"
(archive.org's snapshot)

- an article published by Russell Nelson, OSI board member in 2004, on end of 2007 it was changed t


UK Legislation

* {{Software distribution Software licensing Open content