What is Software Licence? — UK Software Development Guide
Direct Answer
A software licence is a legal agreement that defines how software may be used, distributed, and modified. For commercial software, licences specify who can use the software, for what purposes, and at what cost. For open-source software, licence types (MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL, LGPL) define what users can and cannot do with the software — including whether they can use it in proprietary commercial products.
Software-licence in the UK
Software licensing has specific UK IP implications. UK custom software projects must include an IP Assignment Agreement transferring ownership from the developer to the client. Open source licences used in UK software must be checked for commercial use restrictions: MIT and Apache 2.0 are permissive (can be used in commercial products); GPL requires that derived works also be open source (may conflict with commercial software plans); AGPL extends GPL to network services (very restrictive for SaaS). UK technology due diligence (for M&A) includes a licence review — undisclosed restrictive open source licences can significantly reduce acquisition valuation.
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