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You have it backwards. The incentive is not permissive licenses. The incentive structure confess from the IP regime itself. People treat patents, trade secrets
by burntsushi 6y ago
You have it backwards. The incentive is not permissive licenses. The incentive structure confess from the IP regime itself. People treat patents, trade secrets and so on as things of value in their own right. Copyleft could force the publication of code that companies want to otherwise keep private. So they are incentivized to use permissive licenses to avoid that scenario.
- GoblinSlayer 6y agoThat is, the only reason for permissive licenses is to let corporations own code.
- burntsushi 6y agoNo. And it's not just corporations. Because of our IP system, IP (patents, copyrights) ends up being part of the portfolio of any company, including a startup. If the startup is looking to get acquired, that IP ends up being a part of the value of the startup. And besides, some people might not believe in or care about the four essential freedoms. They don't have to be corporations. And then of course, there are the ideological reasons that I listed in my OP.