105 řádky
4.0 KiB
HTML
105 řádky
4.0 KiB
HTML
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
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<html>
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<version>1</version>
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<head>
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<title>Legal Issues in Free Software</title>
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</head>
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<body>
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<p id="category"><a href="/freesoftware/freesoftware.html">About Free Software</a></p>
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<h1>Legal Issues in Free Software</h1>
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<div id="introduction">
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<p>
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It is important when re-using and developing Free Software (also known as Open Source), to understand the legal issues surrounding them. Much of
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these legal issues are focused around Free Software licences,
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and the rights and obligations that they provide and impose.
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Having a basic understanding of these legal issues enable users
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to effectively use and comply with the requirements of Free
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Software licences.
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</p>
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</div>
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<p>
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You can follow <a href="/freesoftware/legal/faq.html">this link
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for more Frequently Asked Questions</a> that can help you
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understand the legal implications of Free Software licensing.
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</p>
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<h2>What is software licensing?</h2>
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<p>
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Generally, a licence is an authorization to use, release, or
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distribute someone else's property. This includes intellectual
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property such as a piece of text, a song, or artwork. Software
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licences are therefore licences that inform users of how the
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rights holder over a piece of software (usually the author) wants
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that software to be used and what freedoms and/or restrictions
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it has. Without a licence, many uses of the software may be
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prohibited due to the default application of copyright law.
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</p>
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<p>
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A Free Software licence is a software licence whose terms allow
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a user to obtain and enjoy the <a
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href="/freesoftware/freesoftware.html">four freedoms of Free
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Software</a>; namely, the freedom to use, modify, share, and
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improve software. Conversely, the opposite of a Free Software
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licence is a proprietary software licence, which restricts users
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from enjoying any of the four freedoms of Free Software. Even
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software that is distributed free of charge (gratis) can be
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considered to be proprietary software, as long as any of the four
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freedoms are restricted.
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</p>
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<p>
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Copyleft licences are a type of Free Software licences that allow
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the user to enjoy the four freedoms, under the condition that
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those freedoms remain intact in any further distribution of the
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software or derivative works.
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</p>
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<p>
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The absence of a licence does not make software Free Software.
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Software is copyrighted by default, so unless it has been
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explicitly and validly placed into the <a
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href="/freesoftware/legal/faq.html#public-domain">public
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domain</a>, using code without a licence may be considered
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copyright infringement.
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</p>
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<h2>Why should software projects use Free Software licences?</h2>
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<p>
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Software is the most important cultural technology of the 21st
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century. It is almost impossible to imagine daily life today
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without it. When others control a tool as important to society as
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software, they can exert great influence over our lives and
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actions.
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</p>
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<p>
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For example, whoever controls the search engines that we use has
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the power to determine what we find online; whoever controls the
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software on which our online transactions are run can have access
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to our personal data. It would be dangerous to democracy if the
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critical social instrument that software constitutes were
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controlled by only a small group.
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</p>
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<p>
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The four freedoms of Free Software can therefore be applied to
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hand control of the future of software back to the people. A Free
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Software licence is an explicit way of granting these freedoms,
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so that users of a piece of such licensed software are able to
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use, study, share, and improve the tools that it provides.
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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