Standard Library Copyright

Packages in the Overture standard library will be distributed in source form. Furthermore, in keeping with Overture as a whole, the packages must be distributed under a licence that will permit end users to modify and extend those library sources.

The Overture project does not have to own the IPR contained within standard libraries, but the requirements above mean that, in practice, library providers must make the sources available under a copyleft licence. This typically means that individual source files that comprise the library should include a copyright comment header that asserts ownership, states the terms of the licence and indicates the rights that the end user has as a result.

The most familiar example would be a library that is licensed under GPL. The library producer would retain the intellectual property rights, but license the sources under GPL, so that they may be freely distributed with Overture. Individual source files would include a standard GPL copyright statement identifying the producer as the owner of the IPR. This ownership would also be listed with the overall Overture copyrights.