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  1. English
  2. Copyright
  3. 5b. HOW ... can other people use a work? - Contractual licenses
  4. 5b.2 Free and open source software licences
  • Basics of Copyright
  • 1. WHERE... is the work used and which national law is applicable?
  • 2. WHAT... is a protected work?
  • 3. WHO... owns the copyright in the work?
  • 4. WHICH... rights in the work are protected?
  • 5. HOW... may other people use a work?
  • 5b. HOW ... can other people use a work? - Contractual licenses
    • 5b.1 Creative Commons Licences
    • 5b.2 Free and open source software licences
      • 5b.2.1 WHICH rights are licensed?
      • 5b.2.2 WHO are licensors and licensees?
      • 5b.2.3 HOW MUCH money may be charged for FOSS?
      • 5b.2.4 HOW may FOSS be redistributed by licensees?
      • 5b.2.5 WHAT happens when a FOSS licence is infringed?
  • 6. AND... responsibility and sanctions?
  • 7. Copyright and social media

5b.2 Free and open source software licences

Index

Free and open-source software (FOSS) licences are licences for computer programs.

FOSS licences are pre-formulated non-exclusive licence agreements for computer programs. They can be used by programmers to license their rights to use their computer programs and make the editable source code of their computer programs available to all interested users.

There are a large number of FOSS licences. The Free Software Foundation maintains a list of all licences that fall under the definition of free software. The Open Source Initiative maintains a list of all licences that meet the definition of open source software. The two lists are almost congruent, which is why the name free and open-source software is often used – albeit inaccurately.

To summarise, free and open source software is often defined as software which can be freely run, studied, distributed and modified by users. This presupposes that FOSS licences grant comprehensive rights to use, and guarantee access to the editable source code.

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FAQ FAQs, developed from real cases, allow you to quickly find answers to everyday digital law questions.
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About


CCdigitallaw is a national Competence Center in Digital Law that supports Swiss Higher Education Institutions (students, academic and administrative staff) in dealing with legal questions related to the digitization process and the use of new media and technologies. To do so, the Center offers various services such as a detailed knowledge base, FAQs, a wide range of on- and offline training activities and an advising service.

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CCdigitallaw has been created through a project funded by swissuniversities. The center is the result of a collaboration between the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), University of Basel (UNIBAS), University of Neuchâtel (UNINE), University of Geneva (UNIGE), and the Conference of Swiss Libraries (CBU-KUB).

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  • e-mail: info@ccdigitallaw.ch
  • tel: +41586664930
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License

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