How does an open source licence work?
Traditionally, copyright has been employed to reserve all copyright for sale (all rights reserved) in connection with an original work. Conversely, an open source licence is a legal instrument used to make a work freely available. The term ‘free’ does not mean free of charge. It refers to a user’s freedom to run, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the software without the payment of a royalty or obtaining express permission. Open-source licences make use of the copyright rights applicable to computer programs to secure several standard conditions. Anyone can copy, distribute, and modify open source software as long as they abide by the conditions. The conditions ensure that successive developments of source code may remain available for additional improvement. Anyone violating the conditions may be subjected to legal repercussions under copyright law.
