What is the legal basis of OSS licenses?
Software licenses, including those for open source software, are typically based on copyright law. Under U.S. copyright law, users must have permission (i.e. a license) from the copyright holder(s) before they can obtain a copy of software to run on their system(s). Authors of a creative work, or their employer, normally receive the copyright once the work is in a fixed form (e.g., written/typed). Others can obtain permission to use a copyrighted work by obtaining a license from the copyright holder. Typically, obtaining rights granted by the license can only be obtained when the requestor agrees to certain conditions. For example, users of proprietary software must typically pay for a license to use a copy or copies. Open source software licenses grant more rights than proprietary software licenses, but they are still conditional licenses that require the user to obey certain terms. Software licenses (including OSS licenses) may also involve the laws for patent, trademark, and trade s
