Designing Open Source Licenses by Kim-Sau Chung

Join us for another event in the Microeconomics Research Seminar Series, Autumn Term 2024.

Kim-Sau Chung, from the Hong Kong Baptist University, will present their research on Designing Open Source Licenses.

Abstract

Open source licenses are noted for being self-referential. The two most popular licenses are GPL and BSD. GPL says the next developer cannot go proprietary, and can only go open source with the same license, namely GPL. BSD says the next developer can go proprietary, and can also go open source with any license, including BSD. We provide a framework to study all selfreferential licenses. When developers discount the future exponentially, and when forking is unlikely, there is no need to consider any self-referential licenses other than GPL and BSD. With hyperbolic discounting, or if forking is likely, there are other simple self-referential licenses that can do better than GPL and BSD.

This seminar will be held in the Economics Common Room on Friday 18 October 2024 at 3.30pm. This event is open to all levels of study and is also open to the public.

To register your place and gain access to the webinar, please contact the seminar organisers.

This event is part of the Microeconomics Research Seminar Series.