Versioning of licences¶

Each licence listed below has a version number, which provide issuing bodies with the ability to update them. In order to ensure compatibility and reusability of the code in the future, in particular for copyleft licences, it is recommended that software is released according to the latest available version of the licence, clarifying compatibility with any subsequent changes.

Public domain¶

A public domain licence is a licence in which the holder of the rights renounces the intellectual property rights.

This is the recommended licence for the release of open data databases, where you do not deal with original databases of choice or availability of works. Please note that the rights to the individual elements contained in a database are still covered by their individual licence, which is not affected by their inclusion in a database.

This licence provides reusers with total flexibility and reduces complications associated with operating under various and different licences with the potential conflicting provisions that this entails.

The most popular licence in this area is the Creative Commons Zero (SPDX Code: CC0-1.0).

Non-copyleft licences¶

Non-copyleft licences are open licences that provide considerable freedom and flexibility for users to reuse.

In fact, with these licences, the rights holder only requires a phrase identifying the source of the document and, where feasible, a link to the relevant licence information, and does not restrict the use or modification of the original work.

These licences are used for software components that implement adapters or components that are created to be integrated into third-party applications. The main focus of these licences is on reuse in as many programs as possible.

Unlike copyleft licences, there is no obligation for those who adapt these components to release any changes and improvements, but only a reference to obtain a copy of the original source code.

Examples of these licences are the BSD licence, the MIT licence and the Apache licence - SPDX identifiers:

BSD-3-Clause, MIT and Apache-2.0.

Note: use of the Apache licence is not recommended as it is incompatible with the GNU GPL version 2 (SPDX identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later).

Copyleft licences¶

Copyleft licences are licences that require attribution to the original author but that add so-called ‘viral’ clauses. The concept of virality requires any subsequent modification to be released under a licence that does not impose additional restrictions on the user.

They are used to preserve the freedom of the software at each subsequent modification, requiring the release for reuse of any updates by third parties.

It is essential to provide a copy of the source code only during the distribution or licensing of the software, not at the time of development.

This type of licence is recommended for all complete software applications.

The most widely used licence in this area is the GNU GPL (SPDX identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later) or the GNU AGPL, its modification that also covers the scope of software distributed online (SPDX identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later).

Copyleft licences - for libraries¶

In order to ensure flexibility in reuse, i.e. to allow for the use of a software component in an application under any licence, the virality clause may be weakened. These licences are also called ‘weak copyleft’ licences.

This additional clause keeps virality intact with respect to changes to the component code, but allows for external integration by software distributed under any licence.

Please note that these licences contain the so-called ‘reproducibility clause’: it must always be possible for the user of third-party software to replace the component released under the LGPL licence with a modified version, without changing the functionalities of the third-party software. This clause can be problematic and unsatisfactory in some embedded environments, such as iOS.

The most used version is the GNU LGPL (SPDX identifier: LGPL-3.0-or-later), modified version of the GNU GPL licence.

Licences not included in the newly introduced classification¶

• The Mozilla Public Licence (SPDX identifier: MPL-2.0) is a copyleft licence, comparable to the GNU GPL licence, which guarantees free distribution of the code but dictates that it may not be reused, if required, for modifications, logos, names or other registered trademarks of the rights holder, without further authorisation.
• The European Union Public Licence (EUPL) is a weak copyleft licence, developed by the European Commission, and officially translated into all EU languages. This licence includes a compatibility table with some of the most common open licences. SPDX identifier: EUPL-1.2.

Creative Commons licences¶

There are many versions of Creative Commons licences. These licences, as suggested by Creative Commons itself, cannot be used to protect software, but only other original works (e.g. documentation or text).

The only Creative Commons licences that can be considered as open licences, as described in 3.3, are:

• Creative Commons Zero - public domain (SPDX identifier: CC0-1.0).
• Creative Commons Attribution (version 4 or above) - a non-copyleft licence (SPDX identifier: CC-BY-4.0)
• Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (version 4 or above) - a copyleft licence (SPDX identifier: ``CC-BY-SA-4.0)

Licence applicable to software documentation and attachments¶

All attachments to the raw source code of the software, such as comments in the source code, documentation, examples, demo screens, videos, etc. are considered to be included under the same licence as the software itself. Therefore, in general, it is not necessary to determine different licences for such content, if they are released at the same time as the software and as an integral part of it.

In the event of the release of separate documentation with respect to the software, or in the case of the latter being particularly substantial (more than 10 printed pages), it is recommended to grant a licence to the work in any case. Please refer to 4.4 for guidance on selecting the best licence.

Compatibility between licences¶

Compatibility of licences depends on the transfer of intellectual property rights by the author. In order to preserve the freedom and reusability of software created over time, copyleft licences are the licences that yield fewer rights in this context.

As regards compatibility, two scenarios must be differentiated:

• The creation of a new work from existing components, with a single licence
• The assembly and distribution of multiple interacting components, each with a different licence.

As regards the case of creating a new work under a single licence, the compatibility matrix can be explained as follows:

• Works released under a public domain can be released under any other licence
• Works released under non-copyleft licences are releasable with copyleft licences
• Works released under copyleft licences may only be released with copyleft licences, provided that the two licences are compatible

On the other hand:

• Works licensed under a public domain, non-copyleft or weak copyleft may interact as stand-alone components with any other application, while respecting any provisions regarding references to the original code and the distribution of any modifications.
• Works released under a copyleft licence may only interact as stand-alone components with other components released under a compatible copyleft licence.