Free license
A free license is a license that allows free use and dissemination of copyrighted works. Free licensed text, image or Tonwerke be called in distinction to free software as free content ( open content ). The idea of free licenses originated in the Free Software Movement.
The respective license texts regulate in detail the right to reproduce and publish and the right to edit and change the works. Depending on the license of the author or the owner of the full-scale use rights to the licensee these rights grants a free under certain conditions. Regulations as to when and how the author of the work are to be mentioned, are included in most free licenses. Free licenses require partially, that adapt the work shall also be published under a free license - such licenses are often referred to as "strong free licenses ", this license mechanism as copyleft. The author can formulate these conditions in a separate license text or use this license standards.
The Institute for Legal Issues on Free and Open Source Software lists more than 30 standard licenses for free content as well as a variety of software licenses. The BSD License and the GNU General Public License (GPL) for free software are very well known. Common standard licenses for free content in addition to the GNU Free Documentation License increasingly individual Creative Commons licenses and the UVM license for free content, and the Free Art License ( Free Art ).
Other licenses such as the Open Database License or the BiOS Material Transfer Agreement governing the free use of specific types of intellectual property ( eg, database, biotechnological invention ).
Semi-free licenses
Because no generally accepted definition of free content is, is controversial in certain license conditions if they are to be regarded as free license. This concerns in particular licenses that allow any use for commercial purposes or no processing. The Institute for Legal Issues on Free and Open Source Software ( IfrOSS ) about these licenses still considered to be free; the Free Software Foundation ( FSF ) and the Open Source Definition, however, they conclude from the narrow definition of free licenses and refer to them as "semi -free".