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7 Best Permissive And Copyleft Licenses (2019)

1. Do What the Fuck You Want To Public License Version 2

Source: http://www.wtfpl.net/txt/copying/

This license grants maximum permissions, and unlike most licenses it makes no requirement to retain the license text. This makes it easy to distribute, and incorporate into other works. It's also very clear what you are allowed to do.

2. GNU All-permissive License
Source: https://www.gnu.org/prep/maintain/html_node/License-Notices-for-Other-Files.html

This license is short, provides the essential permissions, and merely requires the user to include the copyright notice. The main drawback of this license is that it's for individual files. If you have multiple files, putting them into a tar or zip archive could be a work around.

3. Microsoft Public License

Source: https://spdx.org/licenses/MS-PL.html

This license is only for software unfortunately. Surprisingly created by Microsoft, this license is short yet thorough, and grants all the common permissions. It's doesn't get nearly as much attention as it deserves probably because it was created by Microsoft. At least check it out, before you rule it out.

4. Ritchey Permissive License v6

Source: https://jamesdanielmarrsritchey.blogspot.com/2019/12/ritchey-permissive-license-v6.html

This is a home-brew license, and for that reason could be risky to use. However it gives maximum permissions, unlike most licenses it doesn't require retention of the notice, and it's carefully worded.

5. Unlicense

Source: https://unlicense.org/

This license is only for software unfortunately. It is both a license, and a dedication. It dedicates your work to the public domain, but in jurisdictions where this isn't possible the license terms kick in to grant common permissions. The wording of this license has raised concerns with some about how it may be interpreted by the law. It's very similar to the CC0 license, but much shorter and easy to follow.

6. CC0 1.0 Universal

Source: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode

Unlike Unlicense, this can be used for any type of work. It's both a license, and a dedication. It dedicates your work to public domain where possible, and grants wide permissions elsewhere. It's thorough too. The main drawback of this license is it's length.

7. Ritchey ShareAlike License v1

Source: https://jamesdanielmarrsritchey.blogspot.com/2019/12/ritchey-sharealike-license-v1.html

This is a home-brew license which could make it risky to use, but it provides near complete permissions aside from requiring others to place their contributions under the same license.

License:Ritchey Permissive License v6
Ritchey Permissive License v6:

Permissions are revoked permanently upon breach of this license. Otherwise irrevocable royalty-free permission to do anything with material provided under this license is granted to anyone whom remains compliant with this license. The material author cannot be not held responsible for anything relating to the material. When exercising permissions granted by this license the material must remain solely under this license. This license is to be upheld in Canada, subject to the laws of Canada, as they were on April 21, 2019. You must be legally capable of being bound to all the requirements of this license, and by using the material you agree to be. The license text may be used under these terms.

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Copyright © James Daniel Marrs Ritchey.

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