nonsoftware-copyleft.html (10628B)
1 <!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> 2 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.96 --> 3 <!-- This page is derived from /server/standards/boilerplate.html --> 4 <!--#set var="TAGS" value="thirdparty" --> 5 <!--#set var="DISABLE_TOP_ADDENDUM" value="yes" --> 6 <title>Applying Copyleft To Non-Software Information 7 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title> 8 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/nonsoftware-copyleft.translist" --> 9 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> 10 <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/ph-breadcrumb.html" --> 11 <!--GNUN: OUT-OF-DATE NOTICE--> 12 <!--#include virtual="/server/top-addendum.html" --> 13 <div class="article reduced-width"> 14 <h2>Applying Copyleft To Non-Software Information</h2> 15 16 <address class="byline">by <a href="http://dsl.org/">Michael Stutz</a></address> 17 18 <h3 id="what">First, what is Copyleft?</h3> 19 20 <p> 21 The entry for 22 “<a href="/licenses/copyleft.html">copyleft</a>” in the 23 definitive hacker lexicon, the 24 <a href="http://www.jargon.net/jargonfile/c/copyleft.html">Jargon 25 File</a>, reads:</p> 26 27 <blockquote><p> 28 copyleft: /kop'ee-left/ [play on “copyright”] n. 1. The 29 copyright notice (“General Public License”) carried by 30 GNU EMACS and other Free Software Foundation software, granting 31 reuse and reproduction rights to all comers (but see also General 32 Public Virus). 2. By extension, any copyright notice intended to 33 achieve similar aims. 34 </p></blockquote> 35 36 <p>The idea of <a href="/licenses/copyleft.html">copyleft</a> 37 originated with über-hacker <a href="https://www.stallman.org/"> 38 Richard Stallman</a> in 1983 when he started 39 the <a href="/gnu/gnu-history.html">GNU Project</a>. In brief, his 40 goal was “to develop a complete free Unix-like operating 41 system.” As part of that goal, he invented and wrote 42 the <a href="/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>, a 43 legal construct that included a copyright notice but added to it (or, 44 technically, removed certain restrictions), so its terms allowed for 45 the freedoms of reuse, modification and reproduction of a work or its 46 derivatives to be kept for all.</p> 47 48 <p> 49 Normal <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20190805143144/http://www.angelfire.com/planet/carroll/index2.html"> 50 copyright</a> asserts ownership and identification of the author, as 51 well as prevents the use of the author's name as author of a distorted 52 version of the work; it also prevents intentional distortion of the 53 work by others and prevents destruction of the work. But it also 54 carries other restrictions—such as restricting the 55 reproduction or modification of a work.</p> 56 57 <p> 58 Copyleft contains the normal copyright statement, asserting ownership 59 and identification of the author. However, it then <em>gives away</em> 60 some of the other rights implicit in the normal copyright: it says 61 that not only are you free to redistribute this work, but you are also 62 free to change the work. However, you cannot claim to have written the 63 original work, nor can you claim that these changes were created by 64 someone else. Finally, all derivative works must also be placed under 65 these terms.</p> 66 67 <h3 id="why">Why is Copyleft important, or even necessary?</h3> 68 69 <p> 70 Certain restrictions of copyright—such as distribution and 71 modification—are not very useful to “cyberia,” the 72 “free, apolitical, democratic community” that constitutes 73 the internetworked digital world.</p> 74 75 <p> 76 With computers, perfect copies of a digital work can easily be 77 made—and even modified, or further distributed—by others, 78 with no loss of the original work. As individuals interact in cyberia, 79 sharing information—then reacting and building upon it—is 80 not only natural, but this is the <em>only</em> way for individual 81 beings to thrive in a community. In essence, the idea of copyleft is 82 basic to the natural propagation of digital information among humans 83 in a society. This is why the regular notion of copyright does not 84 make sense in the context of cyberia.</p> 85 86 <p> 87 Simple “public domain” publication will not work, because 88 some will try to abuse this for profit by depriving others of freedom; 89 as long as we live in a world with a legal system where legal 90 abstractions such as copyright are necessary, as responsible artists 91 or scientists we will need the formal legal abstractions of copyleft 92 that ensure our freedom and the freedom of others.</p> 93 94 <p> 95 Much literature has been written on this subject by Stallman, and the 96 details can be found in the 97 excellent <a href="/philosophy/philosophy.html">texts</a> published 98 by the Free Software Foundation.</p> 99 100 <h3 id="gpl">So why isn't the FSF's GNU GPL good enough?</h3> 101 102 <p> 103 It <em>is</em> good enough! The GNU GPL is not only a document of 104 significant historical and literary value, but it is in wide use today 105 for countless software programs—those as formal part of the 106 GNU Project and otherwise. The GNU GPL originated for the specific 107 goal of sharing software among computer programmers. However, looking 108 closely at the GPL, it appears that the same License can be easily 109 applied to non-software information.</p> 110 111 <p>Alternately, a document can be copylefted under different, or much 112 simpler terms; whether or not the GNU GPL is the specific means to the 113 end is not the issue, although the GNU GPL certainly provides the most 114 explicit (and canonical) definition of copyleft.</p> 115 116 <h3 id="how">Ok, so how do I copyleft my non-software work?</h3> 117 118 <p> 119 It's simple. While a particular situation may require or inspire its 120 own specific License, possibly similar to the GNU GPL, all that a 121 copyleft notice must really do is fulfill the points as defined above 122 in “<a href="#what">First, what is Copyleft?</a>” Using 123 the GNU GPL to copyleft your work is easy.</p> 124 125 <p> 126 The GNU GPL states that it “applies to any program or other work 127 which contains a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may 128 be distributed under the terms of this General Public License,” 129 so this “Program,” then, may not necessarily be a computer 130 software program—any work of any nature that can be 131 copyrighted can be copylefted with the GNU GPL.</p> 132 133 <p> 134 The GNU GPL references the “source code” of a work; this 135 “source code” will mean different things for different 136 kinds of information, but the definition of “source 137 code”—provided in the GNU GPL—holds true in any case: 138 “The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work 139 for making modifications to it.”</p> 140 141 <p> 142 The notices attached to the work can not always be attached “to 143 the start of each source file,” as recommended by the GNU 144 GPL. In this case, the directory that the files reside should contain 145 a notice, as should any accompanying documentation or literature.</p> 146 147 <p> 148 Finally, for non-software works the “copyright” line 149 included at the start of the “source code” of the work is 150 modified in language slightly:</p> 151 152 <blockquote class="emph-box"> 153 <p> 154 <one line to give the work's name and a brief idea of what it does.><br /> 155 Copyright (C) yyyy <name of author> 156 </p><p> 157 This information is free; you can redistribute it and/or modify it 158 under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by 159 the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or 160 (at your option) any later version. 161 </p><p> 162 This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, 163 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of 164 MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the 165 GNU General Public License for more details. 166 167 You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License 168 along with this work; if not, write to the Free Software 169 Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA. 170 </p> 171 </blockquote> 172 173 <h3 id="where">Where do I go from here?</h3> 174 175 <p>Here are sources for further information on copyleft, especially as 176 it is applied to non-software information:</p> 177 178 <p>The <a href="/home.html">rest of this web site</a> is the home of 179 the GNU Project and is the canonical source for copyleft and 180 free software<a href="#f1">(1)</a>.</p> 181 182 <p><a href="http://www.ram.org/">Ram Samudrala</a> wrote 183 the <a href="http://www.ram.org/ramblings/philosophy/fmp.html">Free 184 Music Philosophy</a> and creates copylefted music as the 185 band Twisted Helices.</p> 186 187 <p>Some of my own non-software copylefted works include texts 188 (literature, reviews, <a href="http://dsl.org/cookbook/cookbook_toc.html">technical</a>) 189 and music.</p> 190 <div class="column-limit"></div> 191 192 <h3 id="fn" class="footnote">Footnote</h3> 193 <ol> 194 <li id="f1">Before 2020, “free software” was confusingly 195 referred to as “freely-redistributable.”</li> 196 </ol> 197 </div> 198 199 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above --> 200 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> 201 <div id="footer" role="contentinfo"> 202 <div class="unprintable"> 203 204 <p>Please send general FSF & GNU inquiries to 205 <a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><gnu@gnu.org></a>. 206 There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> 207 the FSF. Broken links and other corrections or suggestions can be sent 208 to <a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><webmasters@gnu.org></a>.</p> 209 210 <p><!-- TRANSLATORS: Ignore the original text in this paragraph, 211 replace it with the translation of these two: 212 213 We work hard and do our best to provide accurate, good quality 214 translations. However, we are not exempt from imperfection. 215 Please send your comments and general suggestions in this regard 216 to <a href="mailto:web-translators@gnu.org"> 217 <web-translators@gnu.org></a>.</p> 218 219 <p>For information on coordinating and contributing translations of 220 our web pages, see <a 221 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 222 README</a>. --> 223 Please see the <a 224 href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations 225 README</a> for information on coordinating and contributing translations 226 of this article.</p> 227 </div> 228 229 <p>Copyright © 1997, 2020 Michael Stutz</p> 230 231 <p> 232 Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is 233 permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. 234 </p> 235 236 <!--#include virtual="/server/bottom-notes.html" --> 237 238 <p class="unprintable">Updated: 239 <!-- timestamp start --> 240 $Date: 2021/09/26 10:36:54 $ 241 <!-- timestamp end --> 242 </p> 243 </div> 244 </div><!-- for class="inner", starts in the banner include --> 245 </body> 246 </html>