From f6ecf9180cbba0695f6675881fdb00d25a3a65ca Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Kat Walsh Date: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 00:56:55 -0800 Subject: [PATCH] Mention public domain in "no license" Some people who choose this option may really intend PD; mention that option and what to do --- no-license.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/no-license.md b/no-license.md index aeccd0d..1dbd540 100644 --- a/no-license.md +++ b/no-license.md @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ title: No License You're under no obligation to choose a license and it's your right not to include one with your code or project. But please note that opting out of open source licenses doesn't mean you're opting out of copyright law. -You'll have to check with your own legal counsel regarding your particular project, but generally speaking, the absence of a license means that default copyright laws apply. This means that you retain all rights to your source code and that nobody else may reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from your work. This might not be what you intend. +You'll have to check with your own legal counsel regarding your particular project, but generally speaking, the absence of a license means that default copyright laws apply. This means that you retain all rights to your source code and that nobody else may reproduce, distribute, or create derivative works from your work. This might not be what you intend. (If your intent is to release your code into the public domain, you must explicitly say this. You should use a public domain dedication such as CC0 or the Unlicense to let reusers know that it is freely reusable.) Even in the absence of a license file, you may grant some rights in cases where you publish your source code to a site that requires accepting terms of service. For example, if you publish your source code in a public repository on GitHub, you have accepted the [Terms of Service](https://help.github.com/articles/github-terms-of-service) which do allow other GitHub users some rights. Specifically, you allow others to view and fork your repository.