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People keep saying CC, but that license has never been intended for software. Did it ever stand up to a trial in court for this usecase? See also [1]. Why isn't

People keep saying CC, but that license has never been intended for software. Did it ever stand up to a trial in court for this usecase? See also [1]. Why isn't there something like CC NC geared for software? [1] https://wiki.creativecommons.org/index.php/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Can_I_apply_a_Creative_Commons_license_to_software.3F https://wiki.creativecommons.org/index.php/Frequently_Asked_... > We recommend against using Creative Commons licenses for software. Instead, we strongly encourage you to use one of the very good software licenses which are already available.

belorn 10y ago
Is it important if court has tested the license? A software license is like a will, in that it describes the authors intention in a legal binding document. A infringer would need to prove in court that their activity does not conflict with the requirements of the license, and the words "non-commercial" would be quite hard to sneak around. The main reason that FSF and similar activly advice against such license is primarily because "non-commercial" is ambiguous and there is a clear risk for the recipients/re-distributors if the original author starts to act abusive. A common example I have heard is public schools vs private school, where the later is a commercial activity and the former is common viewed as not. How that would translate to a student using it in a student project would be up in the air. If I where you, I would instead copy the license of the unreal engine. That is, you don't look at the commercial status but rather on profits from products that include your work. If someone is earning profits, regardless of the nature of the organization who do so, then a cut is required to be given to you. Its simple, it fixes the school problem above, and there is a "industry" example to use if it ever became a court case. The big drawback is that its not an open source compatible license.

belorn 10y ago

Is it important if court has tested the license? A software license is like a will, in that it describes the authors intention in a legal binding document. A infringer would need to prove in court that their activity does not conflict with the requirements of the license, and the words "non-commercial" would be quite hard to sneak around. The main reason that FSF and similar activly advice against such license is primarily because "non-commercial" is ambiguous and there is a clear risk for the recipients/re-distributors if the original author starts to act abusive. A common example I have heard is public schools vs private school, where the later is a commercial activity and the former is common viewed as not. How that would translate to a student using it in a student project would be up in the air. If I where you, I would instead copy the license of the unreal engine. That is, you don't look at the commercial status but rather on profits from products that include your work. If someone is earning profits, regardless of the nature of the organization who do so, then a cut is required to be given to you. Its simple, it fixes the school problem above, and there is a "industry" example to use if it ever became a court case. The big drawback is that its not an open source compatible license.