Licence laundering

Copying a work, replacing its licence and redistributing it

Licence laundering or license laundering occurs when a creative work under copyright is copied by another party, who then replaces the original licence with a different one. This party then illegitimately distributes the work with the new licence.

Licence laundering of media and related files is common on image hosting providers such as Flickr or Picasa, and video hosting providers such as YouTube.[1][better source needed]

## Source code laundering

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In software development, a programmer engages in licence laundering when using source code written by one or more other programmers but removing the licence from the source files or altering the file's header to exclude its revision history or other details.[2] This source code is then modified or integrated into other software, possibly violating the original licence terms.

Another example is using code released under one licence, and redistributing it under a different licence.[3] After SCO Group asserted it owned the intellectual property rights to Unix, a series of SCO/Linux controversies resulted, with SCO Groups chief executive officer Darl McBride stating that "The world is not about stealing people's code, laundering it and saying everything's OK."[4] In SCO Group, Inc. v. Novell, Inc., Novell was found to be the owner of Unix copyrights.[5]

Code for open-source software may be released with a pre-approved non-reciprocal licence permitting its use in other projects, which facilitates license laundering.[6]: 486  To avoid such laundering, developers and project managers should determine the source of the code, and mitigate potential problems with a quality assurance inspection.[6]: 486

## Identification

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Licence laundering may be identified by detecting inconsistencies in the works. Most content creators use a set of common elements that are consistent throughout their portfolio, for example a style or handwriting. Users engaged in licence laundering typically upload files with a diversity of styles, since the styles reflect those of the author, not the licence laundering uploader.[1][better source needed]

Image licence laundering may be detected by using reverse image search engines, such as TinEye or Google Images' "Search by Image" feature.[1][better source needed] These services compare the characteristics of a reference work to a database containing the characteristics for numerous works analyzed by the service provider by spidering the World Wide Web. The results of a reverse image search may indicate the original source of the content.[7]

Another technique involves inspecting the Exif data associated with files. If the data is generally consistent in a set of files, the files were likely generated by the same individual, whereas if the data differ significantly, it may be indicative of a copyright infringement.[1][better source needed] An example is a set of photographs generated by different camera models.

## References

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1. ^ a b c d Wattenberg, Leo (31 January 2015). "licence considerations". Archived from the original on 26 February 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
2. ^ "Perens urges firms to go open source". ITNews/nextmedia. 12 November 2007. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2017.
3. ^ Naughton, Edward J. (11 August 2011). "Operating (system) without a license: Does Section 4 of the GPL leave Google and Android device manufacturers unlicensed? (Part 2)". Emerging Technologies Blog. Brown Rudnick LLP Attorney. Archived from the original on 2017-02-23. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
4. ^ Weiss, Todd R. (19 May 2003). "Users outraged as SCO stakes Linux legal claim". Computerworld. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
5. ^ Harvey, Tom (30 March 2010). "Decision in SCO-Novell case ripples beyond Utah". The Salt Lake Tribune. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
6. ^ a b Davidson, Stephen J.; Levi, Stuart D. (2005). Open Source Software: Risks, benefits & practical realities in the corporate environment. Intellectual property course handbook. Practising Law Institute.
7. ^ "How can I use TinEye to find the copyright owner of an image?". Frequently asked questions. TinEye. Archived from the original on 22 July 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

## Further reading

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* Tatsubori, Michiaki; Gangadharan, G.R. (June 2012). "Service Commons -- Serve and Serve Alike: Applying the Creative Commons Spirit to Web Services". 2012 IEEE Ninth International Conference on Services Computing. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi:10.1109/SCC.2012.93. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

## External links

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* License laundering on Wikimedia Commons