Note : This is first part of series I am going to write on Open source licenses.
When we use internet today, we often see terms like Licensed under “MIT License” or “Apache License”. What does it actually mean for us as consumer using Open source “software and products” filed under these licenses?
We are going to look into four famous license used today and what does it implies on its use, modification, distribution and selling of entities filed under it :
- Apache License 2.0
- GNU License
- MIT License
- BSD License
Apache License 2.0
A software filed under this license can be used, modified, distributed and sold without any restriction. This license grants rights to users that can be applied to both copyrights and patents. It can be used for personal, internal or commercial use without any restriction. Lets take a deeper look :
Copyrights and Patents:
It grants you complete perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive(you can use the licensed work, and so can anyone else), no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sub-license, and distribute the work. Most important thing, its up to you to share source code of your modifications or not.
Additionally, if you have done any modification to any Apache licensed software and you want to add a copyright statement about it, you are free to do it. You can even release the modified code under different license and add terms and conditions that governs how others use it.
Redistribution:
If you redistribute software with any Apache licensed components, you must include a copy of the license, provide a clear Apache License attribution, and add modification notices to all the files that you modify.
Trademarks and Warranty:
This License does not grant permission to use the trade names, trademarks, service marks, or product names of Licensor. For example you are not allowed to use Apache in your product name directly like ‘Apache New Advanced Server’ but you can use a phrase like ‘New Advanced Server powered by Apache’. Your product name should not state or imply, that the final product is endorsed or created by the Apache Software Foundation.
License clearly states that the product is on “AS IS” basis with no warranty or condition and the user is responsible for appropriateness of its use unless they have agreed in writing or applicable by law. While redistributing the Work or Derivative Works, You may choose to offer, and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity, or other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this License but you are only responsible for it and it does not effect any other contributors in any way.
I hope this information is helpful but you can always refer original license at: https://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0. Suggestions are welcome for improving my writing. Please mention in comments if I missed any valuable information to help others.
