%% date:: [[2021-02-05]], [[2022-07-17]] %% # [[Intellectual Property Law]] Intellectual property law defines how to determine ownership of created works and what rights owners and consumers of those works have. Intellectual property law as it applies to software, especially [[Open source]] software, can be tricky because of its inherently distributable and shareable nature. # Copyright Copyright is the traditional licensing model that gives ultimate control over a work to its owner. Typically, copyrights discourage the creation of derivative works or modifications, especially if it involves making these works commercially available. Copyrighted works are usually proprietary and their source (for copyrighted software) is not made publicly available. # Copyleft [[Copyleft]] is a more modern licensing model that governs works that are part of the public domain. ## Copyleft licenses Below are the most common copyleft licenses. These can apply to any form of work. ### GNU Licenses The original [[GPL License]] was created by [[Richard Stallman]] and intended for open-source software. The [[AGPLv3 License]] was created specifically with network software in mind. The nature of network software means they're more commonly distributed than other works. ### Creative Commons Typically used for documents and pictures