{"id":7603,"date":"2022-04-22T16:53:00","date_gmt":"2022-04-22T14:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twillo.de\/blog\/gplv3-mit-apache2-0-an-overview\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T16:16:05","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T14:16:05","slug":"gplv3-mit-apache2-0-an-overview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/blog\/gplv3-mit-apache2-0-an-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"GPLv3, MIT, Apache2.0 \u2014 an overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"teaser-text\">Did you know that Open Edu\u00adca\u00adtional Resources (OER) have their ori\u00adgins in soft\u00adware devel\u00adop\u00adment? Open source licenses (OS licenses), which orig\u00adi\u00adnated in the free soft\u00adware move\u00adment, were the first<br>open licenses of their kind. <\/p>\n\n<p>Openly licensed soft\u00adware is open source, i.e. the pro\u00adgram code can be freely mod\u00adi\u00adfied. This fea\u00adture makes open source soft\u00adware par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlarly attrac\u00adtive for teach\u00ading and learn\u00ading. By using OS soft\u00adware, not only can license costs be saved, but more inde\u00adpen\u00addence can be gained and trans\u00adparency pro\u00admoted. Many OS pro\u00adgrams can also be used free of charge, i.e. no fee has to be paid for the ser\u00advice (not to be equated with license costs), guar\u00adan\u00adtee bet\u00adter data pro\u00adtec\u00adtion and are often in no way infe\u00adrior to con\u00adven\u00adtional com\u00admer\u00adcial solu\u00adtions. Since Cre\u00adative Com\u00admons (CC) licenses are not suit\u00adable for licens\u00ading soft\u00adware, twillo has expanded its license pool to include the three best-known OS licenses in their cur\u00adrent ver\u00adsions: GPLv3, MIT and Apache 2.0. What do these licenses have in com\u00admon and what are their spe\u00adcial fea\u00adtures? What rights and oblig\u00ada\u00adtions do they trig\u00adger? Which licenses are they com\u00adpat\u00adi\u00adble with? We have com\u00adpiled this infor\u00adma\u00adtion for you in the fol\u00adlow\u00ading overview.        <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Common features of the OS licenses<\/h2>\n\n<p><strong>Allowed:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>free dis\u00adtri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion of the (derived) soft\u00adware<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Free mod\u00adi\u00adfi\u00adca\u00adtion of the source code<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Not per\u00admit\u00adted:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Dis\u00adcrim\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion against persons\/groups of per\u00adsons<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Restric\u00adtions with regard to the area of appli\u00adca\u00adtion<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Con\u00addi\u00adtions for the acqui\u00adsi\u00adtion of rights to the derived soft\u00adware: e.g. trans\u00adfer only in the soft\u00adware pack\u00adage; use only with cer\u00adtain tech\u00adnolo\u00adgies, etc.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>License fees for the grant\u00ading of rights to use the soft\u00adware<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>There are no offi\u00adcial trans\u00adla\u00adtions of the OS licenses. The Eng\u00adlish license text is author\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtive. In the case of mul\u00adti\u00adlin\u00adgual soft\u00adware, the license notice should be in Eng\u00adlish. Appli\u00adca\u00adtion exam\u00adples for indi\u00advid\u00adual licenses can be found in the OS Ini\u00adtia\u00adtive\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/opensource.org\/licenses\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">list of open source licenses<\/a>.   <\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Special features of OS licenses<\/h2>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details has-medium-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>GPLv3<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">A restric\u00adtive OS license<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\"><strong>Strict copy\u00adleft:<\/strong> Com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtions<strong> <\/strong>with the source code of other soft\u00adware must be placed under GPL; the strict copy\u00adleft does not apply to other changes to the source code.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">The mod\u00adi\u00adfied source code must be dis\u00adclosed if the soft\u00adware is dis\u00adtrib\u00aduted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Con\u00adtains a patent clause accord\u00ading to which patents on fur\u00adther devel\u00adop\u00adments \u2014 if nec\u00ades\u00adsary \u2014 are co-licensed, i.e. no license pay\u00adments may be demanded for patents (cf. MIT).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">All changes to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal soft\u00adware must be listed (doc\u00adu\u00admented) in detail.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">The orig\u00adi\u00adnal copy\u00adright and copy\u00adright notices may not be removed\/altered. No con\u00addi\u00adtions devi\u00adat\u00ading from the orig\u00adi\u00adnal copy\u00adright notice may be included for derived works. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Effec\u00adtive\u00adness of the license (its cen\u00adtral clauses) in Ger\u00admany has been con\u00adfirmed by sev\u00aderal courts.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>MIT<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">A per\u00admis\u00adsive OS license<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\"><strong>No copy\u00adleft:<\/strong> mod\u00adi\u00adfied parts of the soft\u00adware may be placed under a dif\u00adfer\u00adent (e.g. pro\u00adpri\u00adetary) license. Unmod\u00adi\u00adfied parts of the soft\u00adware remain under MIT, inso\u00adfar as they can be used inde\u00adpen\u00addently. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">The mod\u00adi\u00adfied source code does not have to be dis\u00adclosed if the soft\u00adware is dis\u00adtrib\u00aduted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">No patent reg\u00adu\u00adla\u00adtion. Atten\u00adtion! License pay\u00adments may be required for patented soft\u00adware dis\u00adtrib\u00aduted under MIT. In this case, the use of the soft\u00adware is no longer free of charge.   <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Changes to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal soft\u00adware do not have to be listed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Since the MIT license text itself is not copy\u00adrighted, any\u00adone is free to mod\u00adify it for their own pur\u00adposes and set their own con\u00addi\u00adtions for use. For this rea\u00adson, there are many versions\/modifications of the license. These are prac\u00adti\u00adcally iden\u00adti\u00adcal to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal license. A com\u00adpar\u00adi\u00adson is nev\u00ader\u00adthe\u00adless rec\u00adom\u00admended.   <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Easy han\u00addling short, con\u00adcise license text<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>Apache 2.0<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">A per\u00admis\u00adsive OS license<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\"><strong>No copy\u00adleft: <\/strong>mod\u00adi\u00adfied parts of the soft\u00adware may be placed under a dif\u00adfer\u00adent (e.g. pro\u00adpri\u00adetary) license. Unmod\u00adi\u00adfied parts of the soft\u00adware remain under Apache 2.0, inso\u00adfar as they can be used inde\u00adpen\u00addently. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">The mod\u00adi\u00adfied source code does not have to be dis\u00adclosed if the soft\u00adware is dis\u00adtrib\u00aduted.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Con\u00adtains an explicit patent pro\u00advi\u00adsion: no license pay\u00adments may be demanded for patented Apache soft\u00adware (cf. MIT).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">All changes to the orig\u00adi\u00adnal soft\u00adware must be listed (doc\u00adu\u00admented) in detail.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">The orig\u00adi\u00adnal copy\u00adright and copy\u00adright notices may not be removed\/altered. Con\u00addi\u00adtions devi\u00adat\u00ading from the orig\u00adi\u00adnal copy\u00adright notice may be included for derived works. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Adap\u00adta\u00adtions (= derived works) may only bear the name \u201cApache\u201d with the writ\u00adten per\u00admis\u00adsion of the Apache Fon\u00adda\u00adtion.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Rights of the OS licenses<\/h2>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>GPLv3<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Dupli\u00adcate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Spread<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Edit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion to the pub\u00adlic and mak\u00ading avail\u00adable to the pub\u00adlic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">(Com\u00admer\u00adcial) dis\u00adtri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion of the mod\u00adi\u00adfied soft\u00adware<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>MIT<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Dupli\u00adcate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Spread<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Edit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion to the pub\u00adlic and mak\u00ading avail\u00adable to the pub\u00adlic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">(Com\u00admer\u00adcial) dis\u00adtri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion of the mod\u00adi\u00adfied soft\u00adware<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Sub\u00adli\u00adcens\u00ading<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Free choice of license for fur\u00adther devel\u00adop\u00adments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Inclu\u00adsion of own license con\u00addi\u00adtions, copy\u00adright notice for the use, repro\u00adduc\u00adtion and dis\u00adtri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion of the derived work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n<\/details>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>Apache 2.0<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Dupli\u00adcate<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Spread<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Edit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adca\u00adtion to the pub\u00adlic and mak\u00ading avail\u00adable to the pub\u00adlic<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">(Com\u00admer\u00adcial) dis\u00adtri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion of the mod\u00adi\u00adfied soft\u00adware<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Sub\u00adli\u00adcens\u00ading<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Free choice of license for fur\u00adther devel\u00adop\u00adments<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Inclu\u00adsion of own license con\u00addi\u00adtions, copy\u00adright notice for the use, repro\u00adduc\u00adtion and dis\u00adtri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion of the derived work<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\"><strong>Atten\u00adtion!<\/strong>  Orig\u00adi\u00adnal instruc\u00adtions must always be retained!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Obligations of the OS licenses<\/h2>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>GPLv3<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Applies both to the use of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal soft\u00adware and to your own fur\u00adther devel\u00adop\u00adments:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Enclose the orig\u00adi\u00adnal license text (in paper form\/as a text file)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Attach a suit\u00adable copy\u00adright notice (e.g. \u00a92021 (name of copy\u00adright holder). Exist\u00ading copy\u00adright notices may not be removed. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Attach a dis\u00adclaimer notice. Exist\u00ading notices may not be removed. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Infor\u00adma\u00adtion on what was processed and when<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Com\u00adbi\u00adna\u00adtions with the source code of other soft\u00adware under GPLv3<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">The entire source code, includ\u00ading pro\u00adpri\u00adetary parts, must be dis\u00adclosed:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list margin-top--xs\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">pub\u00adlish or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">on a data car\u00adrier or<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">make avail\u00adable for down\u00adload from the same web\u00adsite (for online dis\u00adtri\u00adb\u00adu\u00adtion)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>MIT<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Applies to the use of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal soft\u00adware, but <strong>not<\/strong> <strong>to fur\u00adther devel\u00adop\u00adments<\/strong>:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Include the orig\u00adi\u00adnal copy\u00adright notice, the orig\u00adi\u00adnal license notice and the dis\u00adclaimer of war\u00adranties and lia\u00adbil\u00adity in all copies or sub\u00adstan\u00adtial por\u00adtions of the Soft\u00adware<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n<details class=\"wp-block-details is-layout-flow wp-block-details-is-layout-flow\"><summary><strong>Apache 2.0<\/strong><\/summary>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list text--m\">\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Applies both to the use of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal soft\u00adware and to your own fur\u00adther devel\u00adop\u00adments:<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Attach license terms \u2014 as a copy or link<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">For mod\u00adi\u00adfied files, indi\u00adcate in a con\u00adspic\u00adu\u00adous place that they have been mod\u00adi\u00adfied<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">Orig\u00adi\u00adnal copy\u00adright, patent, trade\u00admark and copy\u00adright notices may not be removed.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"margin-top--xs\">If the orig\u00adi\u00adnal soft\u00adware con\u00adtains a \u201cNOTICE\u201d text file, the copy\u00adright notices from the file must be repro\u00adduced exactly as indi\u00adcated<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/details>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">GPLv3\/MIT\/Apache 2.0 compatibility with each other<\/h2>\n\n<p><strong>GPLv3\/Apache 2.0<\/strong>: Source code under Apache 2.0 can be used in a GPLv3 project because Apache 2.0 con\u00adtains fewer con\u00addi\u00adtions than GPLv3. There is no com\u00adpat\u00adi\u00adbil\u00adity the other way round or with other ver\u00adsions (e.g. GPLv2). Apache 2.0 con\u00adtains a pro\u00advi\u00adsion accord\u00ading to which patent rights may be revoked under cer\u00adtain con\u00addi\u00adtions. This con\u00adtra\u00addicts GPLv2.   <\/p>\n\n<p><strong>GPLv3\/MIT<\/strong>: Due to the few restric\u00adtions, MIT source code can be used in GPLv3 projects with\u00adout any prob\u00adlems. The reverse is not pos\u00adsi\u00adble. <\/p>\n\n<p><strong>Apache 2.0\/MIT<\/strong>: com\u00adpat\u00adi\u00adble<\/p>\n\n<p><strong>GPLv3 <\/strong>com\u00adpat\u00adi\u00adble also with:<\/p>\n\n<p>- BSD License with\u00adout adver\u00adtis\u00ading clause,<br>- Affero Gen\u00aderal Pub\u00adlic License, Ver\u00adsion 3 (see Sec\u00adtion 13 of GPLv3)<br>- Lesser Gen\u00aderal Pub\u00adlic License, Ver\u00adsions 2, 2.1 and 3 (LGPL)<br>- CeCILL (CONTRAT DE LICENCE DE LOGICIEL LIBRE CeCILL)<br>- Artis\u00adtic License 2.0<br>- Zope Pub\u00adlic License, Ver\u00adsion 2.0 and 2.1<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Openly licensed soft\u00adware is open source, i.e. the pro\u00adgram code can be freely mod\u00adi\u00adfied. This fea\u00adture makes open source soft\u00adware par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlarly attrac\u00adtive for teach\u00ading and learn\u00ading. By using OS soft\u00adware, not only can license costs be saved, but more inde\u00adpen\u00addence can be gained and trans\u00adparency pro\u00admoted. Many OS pro\u00adgrams can also be used free of [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7397,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-issues"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twillo.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}