Compatibility with other Open Source Licenses

« GNU General Public License (GPL) | Main | Gelfo v. Lockheed Martin Corp. »

Jul25

Compatibility with other Open Source Licenses

Linda Chan

Know More: Licensing, Licensing 2.0, Licensing

The following is provided for information purposes and not meant to be legal advice.

Sometimes open source users may want to combine two (2) programs into a larger work. In order to do this, the 2 programs’ licenses must permit this. It is General Public License (GPL) compatible when the user is able to combine code released under another license with GPL released code with the resulting larger program released under the GPL.

While the GPL is well known, other open source licenses such as the Mozilla Public License, Open Source License, and Common Public License are routinely used and sometimes preferred by the business community.

When there is no compatibility, it may be difficult to reuse software in larger wholes unless there is a dual license that makes the GPL program available under a commercial license for a fee without copyleft restrictions. A dual license allows derived works to be created without licensing them under the GPL.
Under the GPL version 3 (GPL3), in order for another open source license to be compatible, the other license shall not restrict any of the affirmative rights under the GPL. The other open source license may impose additional restrictions, but only those listed in Section 7 of the GPL3. For example, a patent retaliation restriction may be added. Licenses with restrictions not allowed under the GPL3 are not compatible with the GPL3.

related entries

Request for Proposals Oct 29, 2007
More on Software License Agreements Oct 24, 2007
Warranties and Replacements Oct 20, 2007
Distributor Terminations Oct 20, 2007
Negotiating License Agreements Oct 16, 2007

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