Open source software

⚡tl;dr be proactive when using open source software figure out the applicable license and comply with it make sure always to have the up to date version of the open source components used in your own software if open source components are used, compliance with the licence terms is carefully considered book a free call with us what is it? open source software (oss) refers to software with source code that is freely accessible and can be modified and shared by anyone it encourages collaborative software development and innovation however, the open nature of oss comes with its own set of challenges, including security vulnerabilities publicly accessible code may be exploited if not vigilantly managed customization oss allows for customization, it may lead to compatibility issues with other software or within future versions of the oss itself reliance on community support for updates and maintenance this reliance may create uncertainties that could affect business continuity how do i license my oss? the landscape of oss licensing is diverse and understanding and choosing the right type of license to license your oss is essential for legal protection and compliance there are many types of licenses, notably permissive (e g , mit, apache 2 0) permissive licenses generally allow for more freedom in how the software can be used, modified, redistributed and integrated into other projects, including proprietary ones copyleft licenses (e g , gpl, agpl) copyleft licenses have more strict requirements for sharing modifications and derived works under the same license terms they allow for modifications and distributions under the condition that the same license governs the amendments this can ensure that the software remains free and open source but they can impose obligations that affect how your project can be distributed creative commons (for non software projects) while not used for software, creative commons licenses are important for content (like documentation, multimedia, etc ) related to oss projects choosing an appropriate oss license requires a careful assessment of your goals for the software if fostering widespread use and contributions is a priority, choose a permissive license however, if maintaining control over how the software and its derivatives are used is important, go for a copyleft license what should i be careful about when using oss? while using oss is often key to developing software, there are some elements to be careful about avoid copyright infringements and license violations while oss licenses offer broad freedoms for using, modifying, and sharing software, each license comes with specific terms that must be adhered to, to avoid legal complications this is notably highly relevant when integrating oss into your own code key steps to ensure compliance include attribution and copyright notices always provide proper attribution to the original authors of the software, and ensure that copyright notices remain unaltered this respects the intellectual property of the creators and maintains the transparency of the software's origins license classification understanding whether a license is permissive, copyleft, or another type is crucial as different obligations might be imposed license compatibility when using multiple oss components with different licenses, ensure that their terms are compatible with each other tools like the joinup licensing assistant https //joinup ec europa eu/collection/eupl/solution/joinup licensing assistant/jla compatibility checker or a compare tool https //joinup ec europa eu/collection/eupl/solution/joinup licensing assistant/jla find and compare software licenses can aid in evaluating compatibility, helping to avoid conflicts that could jeopardize your project's legal standing mixing it with proprietary code might lead to the requirement to disclose and open source the whole code (an action known as license infection ) in such cases, you are also likely infringing copyright be especially careful with copyleft licences (e g gpl)) copyright infringement can not only result in license termination , which will affect your ability to offer your own software, but it can also expose you to claims for damages in addition to the financial liabilities , non complying with oss terms may cause reputational damage and raise red flags for investors in future financing rounds and due diligence be explicit when licensing software containing open source elements to your customers best practices open source if open source components are used, compliance with the licence terms is carefully considered and people coding for your company are briefed on the question how do i get this done? check out our licensing agreement package and book a free call with us read more on the lexr blog https //www lexr com/en ch/blog/software licensing foss/ https //www lexr com/en ch/blog/software licensing foss/