Copyleft is a license that allows anyone to use, modify, and
share the program. Copyright is a license also, but it allows only the owner of
the copyright to modify and share the program.
The goal of copyleft is to be able to have a program that is
useable, modifiable, and shareable even after going public. Initially the first
person made the program unlicensed, and this worked for the users of the
program to share, modify, and use until the first person made the program into proprietary
software. Proprietary software is something that cannot be further modified or
shared unless the owner of the software allows it. This is why copyleft first
started. Copyleft uses a license to make certain that the program will be
shareable, modifiable, and useable by anyone. It copyrights the program so that
it is always shareable, modifiable, and useable by everyone. (Self, 2011)
Copyright is a license that makes the author of the program
the only person to share, modify, and use the program. “Copyright protects
original works of authorship literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works,
such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture” (U.S.Copyright
Office, 2001). Copyright is used for someone who wishes to own their program or
software and not allow anybody else to use it without consent.
Copyright and copyleft are both licenses, but copyright is
used to make the software not useable without consent. Copyleft is used in the
exact opposite, making the software useable by everyone. Copyleft is assuming
that somebody will take the un-copyrighted material and make it a proprietary
work instead. This means that it cannot be redistributed or modified unless
given consent to do so. Copyright is assuming that someone will want to use the
author’s material if not copyrighted.
Copyrighting something makes it solely the author’s decision to give you
consent to use the material. Copyleft is the opposite, thus allowing everybody
to use the material and forcing it to be that way with the license.
There are reasons for doing both of these. Copyright is
useful when trying to preserve your right as an author to keep the material for
yourself. It makes it so that you have the high authority regarding the
software. It can help you make money if a business wants to pay you for the
copyright. This helps the “little guy”
in the company world, by giving them ownership of their software that they made
by themselves. It will give them a competitive edge over the other company
trying to achieve what they can without the program or software that they have
not developed themselves. Copyleft is useful when someone has a software that
they want the world to use and to keep it that way. They are both useful in
their own ways. I do not think that having just one would of these licenses is
good. There will be many open source items if this happened and it would be
very hard to have a competitive edge or anybody else. If everything was
copyrighted it would be equally bad because what if the xbox or some other item
of the sort didn’t allow anybody to write programs using their code for the
xbox, it would mean no new video games. Rather very few games. There would me a
monopoly from the xbox corporation.
References:
Self, Jason. “What is Copyleft?”. Jxself.org. Jason Self,
2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2013. <jxself.org/what-is-copyleft.shtml.>
U.S. Copyright Office. “Copyright in General.”
Copyright.gov. U.S. Copyright Office 11 Sep. 2001. Web. 02 Dec. 2013
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