rseng-licensing

# Licensing research software Use this skill when someone is choosing a license for research software, adding a LICENSE file, reconciling the licenses of dependencies, or deciding how to cover documentation and data that ship with code. Without a license, others have no legal right to reuse the work, even when the author intended them to - so a clear, accessible license is what makes the "R" (reusability) in FAIR real. ## Ground the discussion: copyright vs license Before recommending anything, make these distinctions explicit: - Copyright exists automatically from the moment a work is created; it does not need to be asserted. It gives only the creator the right to reproduce and use the work. - A license is the document that grants others permission to use, modify, extend, or redistribute the work, and states the conditions. It needs no signature - a user cannot both rely on the license and deny its terms. - "No license" is not the same as "public domain". No license means nobody may legally reuse the work; public domain (or a dedication like CC0 or the Unlicense) means everybody may. - Small contributions may not be copyrightable at all. Always check ownership before advising a license: - Employees usually do not own IP created during employment - the employer does. Confirm whether permission from the institution is required. - Watch for third-party rights baked into the work. - Grant conditions may already mandate open release; if so, that usually remo...