Licensing code for better impact
Hosts: Kate O’Neill, Robert (Bob) Turner
September, 2022
Thanks!
Thanks for coming, thanks to the conference organisers, thanks to those who have advised!
Not Legal Advice
I’m not a legal professional and I can’t advise on the law.
Copyright
The right by law to be the entity which determines who may publish, copy and distribute a piece of writing, music, picture or other work of authorship.
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/copyright
- Berne Convention of 1886: Copyright is immediately bestowed upon a work the moment it is created, without requiring any registration.
Who owns the copyright on my code?
If you’re a researcher, probably not you!:
- Staff - usually the university (UK law, US law).
- Research students - usually the university (e.g. University of Sheffield student IP).
- Different rules for undergrads.
- Funded research can have specific agreements in place - check with your PI, or your funding agreements.
License
- Gives right to use copyright material in specific ways, without changing ownership.
- No license : no right to copy (or to use).
UK Roadmap
UK National Policy
Types of open source license
Your organisation may have policy / guidance.
Creative Commons?
- Not recommended:
- Lack of disclaimer
- Lack software specific terms
- License compatibility problems
Questions for disucssion…
Should TUoS advise a default open source licence? Which would it be?
Should the organisations we work for or study at grant us permission to license the code we produce as we chose?
Can we make good decisions on whether code should remain closed source for commercial reasons? Is more support needed?
Is it a good idea for research funders to advise or stipulate a particular licence?
How do we ensure copyright and licensing are correctly managed for projects where people from multiple organisations contribute code?
How much does the issue of licensing cause useful code to languish on researchers and RSEs laptops, compared with other barriers?
Thanks
Thanks again to everyone involved!