On Sat, Aug 11, 2012 at 04:00:41PM +0300, Nisreen Kabani wrote: > I have a question about open source software? Such as DSpace > > In relation to property rights > > What are the procedures to acquire open source software legally, such as > commercial software? > > According to my information that the open source software does not > have property rights > It does not have any procedures to be used?
Consult a lawyer if you want to be sure. My understanding is that: o All software has property rights attached. Otherwise, anyone could take ownership of it as abandoned property. o In most places, copyright law says that unreleased software belongs to its creator from the moment of creation until he says otherwise. (The identity of the creator may be determined by the concept of "work for hire".) o A work placed "in the public domain" becomes the property of the public, and cannot be successfully claimed as *private* property. You can do anything with it except assert that it belongs to you. o Software released under license remains the property of the creator or to whomever he may assign it. Others are permitted to have and use copies according to the terms of one or more licenses bound to the product. The terms of a license control how anyone other than the owner can use it. o "Open Source" means that the source code is published freely. The license will say what its owner permits you to do with the source code. o If the owner puts his software on a public web site intentionally, without price, the procedure to acquire a copy is to download a copy, unless the site says otherwise. o Some owners accept voluntary donations, or postcards, or suggest a donation to some charity. If the site says that compensation is not required, it is not required, but it would be nice of you to respond. o Some owners ask for nothing but that you identify yourself before taking a copy. o You should *always* inspect the license before taking a copy of any software. You may need to negotiate different terms for the use you intend to make. Some otherwise quite liberal licenses forbid commercial use, or use in building the control systems of a nuclear power facility, or other things of the kind. Some licenses require that, if you modify the software and publish the result, you must publish your modifications in source for free. o There is often a non-binding expectation that you will contribute back to the owner or the developer community any generally-useful modifications, even if not legally required by the license to do so. o Your organization may have its own rules and procedures governing the use of open source software, especially if it distributes software products of its own devising. To summarize: "open source" means a lot of different things. Read the license. The owner can offer it to you under any lawful terms. In general this is a complex issue. A good starting point might be: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_software -- Mark H. Wood, Lead System Programmer mw...@iupui.edu Asking whether markets are efficient is like asking whether people are smart.
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