Who decides what open source license applies to a particular piece of open source software?
The person that originally develops an item of open source software can make it available on any licensing terms he or she chooses. The creator of original code can specify the license terms by referencing a known open source license in the documentation, by making up his or her own terms, or by assigning the copyright to an open source organization that sponsors one or more licenses. Most developers choose to publish open source software under one of the recognized open source licenses. Once an open source product is licensed under a particular license, then all modifications and derivative works are generally licensed under the same license.
