Open-source licenses vs. the public domain
Open-source licenses vs. the public domain¶
One of the biggest misconceptions about Open Source Software is because it’s free and freely available is that it’s part of the Public Domain.
Public domain as to some creative work means that its intellectual property protections have lapsed, whether they’ve expired or cannot be ascertainable, and that means that in order to use something in the public domain, we’re free to do so because there is no need for a license because there are no intellectual property rights anymore.
It has nothing to do with whether something is free. Examples of creative works that have lapsed in the public domain are things like the works of William Shakespeare, Beethoven, and any works by the government because anything that the government produces by law is excluded from copyright law.
Now if you recall from our earlier discussion on copyrights, when they’re created, a copyright attaches immediately upon creation. When something is committed to some medium, some tangible medium that could be perceived by another person. So, there is no way under the law to eliminate the existence of the copyright because by law it just gets created upon creation. So the only way one can legally use software created by another, no matter whether it’s free or not, is by way of license. That is why Open Source Software is not part of the public domain.