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\documentclass[12pt]{report}
%bibtex
\usepackage[style=mla,backend=biber]{biblatex}
%for Copyleft symbol
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%Bibliography File
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\newcommand{\license}[1]{\textbf{#1}}
\begin{document}
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\begin{center}
\textbf{
Classifications of free and non-free copyright licenses
}
\end{center}
Copyright licenses are an important part of any work as they are what dictates the recipient of the copyrighted work may do with said work. Copyright licenses may be applied to anything legally copyrightable. What is legally copyrightable, usually, is what is legally classified as an "artistic work" (such as software, movies, poetry, articles, songs, etc).
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As licenses dictate what may or may not be done with a work, there comes a question of if a license gives enough rights to be considered free (as in freedom) or not. Licenses are commonly split into two categories: Free and Non-Free based on their characteristics. Such characteristics can be, but aren't limited to: the ability to distribute, the ability to sell a work, the ability to remix a work, the ability to share remixes, the nature of how source code is distributed (software only).
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\textbf{\underline{FREE LICENSING}}
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Free licenses are those licenses that allow for the freedom to use, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve whatever work a free license is attached to. Such licensing can apply to software, documents, art, or any other copyrightable material. Free Licenses come with many different characteristics, one of the most notable is "Copyleft". Copyleft is where those rights given by the license also are extended to any copy or derivative of a work with a copyleft license.
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\license{GNU GPL (Any Version)}
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The GNU GPL is one of the most popular Copyleft licenses for coded works. This puts a walled garden of "GPL compatible only" (with some exceptions) around the GPL as to prevent those who do not wish to participate in software freedom from being able to use the code. The newer versions of the GNU GPL (including variations) also have clauses that protect from on patent laws, tivoisation, and "Software as a Service" as means of getting around GPL protections.
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\license{Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC-BY-SA 4.0)}
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The CC-BY-SA 4.0 is to artistic works as to what the GNU GPL is to code. It enforces a similar "walled garden" effect as to allow only the same license to work with the works. Of note, the CC-BY-SA 4.0 is compatible with the GNU GPL v3, meaning that works under either the CC-BY-SA 4.0 and GNU GPL v3 may be combined without infringement. Patent rights and Moral rights are not a given under this license.
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\newline
\license{GNU LGPL (Any Version)}
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The GNU LGPL is another popular copyleft software license, however, it is a weak copyleft license. Instead of enforcing that an entire application must have its source code free, The GNU LGPL only requires that the source code of modified copies to be distributed freely.
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\license{Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL 2.0)}
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The MPL 2.0 is akin to the GNU LGPL in its weak copyleft, but instead of enforcing the sharing requirements for the entire application, it is on a file-basis level. For example, if a user modified code in a text documented that had the MPL 2.0 attached to it and then distributed that file to the public, that user must provide the source code to that file.
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\license{Apache 2.0 License}
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The Apache 2.0 License is a permissive software license that has no copyleft requirements. Anyone code put under the license may be used for any reason, including embedding in non-freely licensed applications. However, the Apache 2.0 license requires that all patents be licensed to users and contributors freely, in cases where a patent violation suit is launched upon any user or contributor about said software, there will be a termination in patent licensing for the suing entity.
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\newline
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\license{Public Domain (CC0)}
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Public Domain and other uninfringable licenses are utterly permissive. Public Domain in specific is a lack of copyright and thus there are no terms to be followed in copyright. As this subject can be legally controversial as different jurisdictions treat the Public Domain differently, there are Public Domain-like licenses out there that fit the role of the Public Domain without any legal headache. Namely, the CC0 is a Public Domain-like license.
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\textbf{\underline{NON-FREE LICENSING}}
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Non-Free licensing is licensing that in some way restricts the freedom to use, copy, distribute, study, change, and improve whatever work a non-free license is attached to. Such licensing can apply to any copyrightable work.
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\license{All Rights Reserved}
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This license is the default license and is no longer legally required to be printed on a copyrighted work for it to be enforceable. All Rights Reserved gives the user no freedom at all to do as they wish with the copyrighted work and all usage is at the sole discretion and terms of the author. This statement is still commonly presented on copyrighted works in spite of the lack of a need to.
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\newline
\license{No License}
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In spite of common misconception, this is functionally identical to All Rights Reserved. No copyright needs to be registered for a work to be copyrighted, thus full copyright rules goes to the copyright holder upon creation, even without a stated license. As no statement about what is legally allowed to be done with a copyrighted publication means all the rights that could be given are reserved it is assumed that, legally, nothing is allowed to be done with the copyrighted work (except in cases of fair use).
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\license{Microsoft Limited Public License (Ms-LPL)}
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The Ms-LPL is a software license that is akin to the GNU GPL License in function. It grants both a permissive copyright and prevents patent treachery. However, the key difference that makes this license non-free is its fourth "Platform Limitation" clause. This makes it so that the freedom gained from the patent grant and the permissive copyright only applies if the software in question is developed for Microsoft's Windows.
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\newline
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\license{Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC-BY-NC 4.0)}
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The CC-BY-NC 4.0 is a non-free license that allows for those licensed works to be shared and adapted the work insofar as that work is not used for any commercial purpose. Patent rights and moral rights are not given in this license. This license's restriction of distribution with fees and other forms of profiteering makes this license non-free.
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\license{Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-ND 4.0)}
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The CC-BY-ND 4.0 is a non-free license that allows for those licensed works to be shared for any reason. Patent rights and moral rights are not given in this license. This license's restriction of distribution of remixing makes this license non-free.
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Both free and non-free copyright licenses are highly influential upon the work they're applied to. Those licenses grant or revoke rights that effect all recipients of the work for decades to a century depending on how the law sees the work. No matter the license applied, understanding of said license, its effects, and its comparability will effect recipients for years to come.
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Copyright \copyright \the\year{} msglm -
This work is licensed under the \href{https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/}{CC-BY-SA 4.0} with willingness a to sell exceptions.
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}
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