Q&A - Questions and Answers
Questions about The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL), and their answers.
What is The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL)?
The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) is a permissive free license for computer software or other creative works.
What's a "free" license?
A free license respects the freedom and community of the licensee. Roughly, it means that licensees are granted the freedom to use, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the licensed work, as opposed to a nonfree or proprietary license which fails to grant some or all of these freedoms. (FSF, 2017).
What's a "permissive" free license?
A permissive free license is a license that grants the basic freedoms above, without adding a requirement that redistributed or derivative works be licensed under identical or specific terms. Contrast this with a copyleft license, which grants specific freedoms and also requires that redistributed or derivative works be licensed under terms granting those same freedoms.
How does The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) differ from "Public Domain"?
While there are similarities in the freedoms granted, there are also significant differences. A Public Domain declaration may or may not be legally available depending upon country or jurisdiction, and does not expressly enumerate granted freedoms. In contrast, The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) is available everywhere licensing is possible, and it clearly and specifically enumerates the rights granted to the licensee. Furthermore, the Public Domain is a legal concept describing the condition in which all works eventually end up, belonging to the public and contributing to the public good, after their terms of copyright have expired; whereas, in contrast, The WTDHPL provides a way for authors and rightsholders to describe free and liberal rights extended to licensees immediately upon release, during the term of active copyright.
Why are the license terms so simple?
The license terms of The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) are kept simple to maximize compatibility with other licenses, in keeping with the purpose of the license.
Why doesn't The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) say that there is no warranty?
Because warranty is arguably out-of-scope for a license. Some licenses include statements about warranty, and some don't--But those not mentioning warranty can always be accompanied with text that establishes warranty terms, while those having warranty statements can never be shorn of them. Our sample wording ("How to license my work with The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL)") makes statements about copyright ownership, disclaimer of warranty, limitation of liability, and licensing.
Why doesn't The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) specify that you can do anything "legal" that you want, instead of just anything you want?
Because that would be evil. Many peoples in the world live under the rule of unjust totalitarian and similar states, and can exercise their basic human rights only in violation of unjust laws. It would be evil to deny them access to a work just because their government is oppressive.
Are you serious? Is this a parody of something?
Yes, The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) is a serious, legal license; No, The WTDHPL is a not a parody or spoof of anything else. The WTDHPL is offered in the spirit of licenses such as Creative Commons' CC0 and especially Sam Hocevar's WTFPL.
May I license my own work with The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL)?
This is expressly encouraged. The WTDHPL was written to give authors and rightsholders the ability to license their work with all possible freedoms granted. Have a look at the How-To page for more information.
What types of work should be licensed with The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL)?
The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) is best suited for "building blocks," work that is not trivial, but not so full as to be a complete work (Stock artwork or photography and program code examples fall into this category because they will be used as building blocks in a larger work). This allows other creators to use works licensed under The WTDHPL in building other, greater works, choosing the appropriate free license for their final creation based on what best fits instead of what's required by the licensing of minor components.
Aren't there already enough "public licenses" leading to possible confusion?
Arguably so, yes. However, The WTDHPL is written simply and specifically to be compatible with other licenses, and thereby reduce, not increase, confusion and complexity. Works licensed under The WTDHPL may be modified, incorporated into other works, remixed, reimagined, and/or relicensed under any other license terms that the creator or rightsholder desires.
Can works licensed under The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL) be re-licensed under BSD-style, GPL or other Copyleft, Creative Commons, or proprietary licenses?
Yes, absolutely; works licensed under The WTDHPL grant any licensee the right to re-license under other terms. The intent of this is to allow the author or rightsholder to choose a free license that best suits his completed work. While re-licensing under a restrictive (nonfree) license is not encouraged, it is allowed under the license and isn't a violation.
If a work licensed under The WTDHPL is later released under a nonfree or proprietary license, does the work become nonfree?
No, because the work that was re-licensed under the restrictive license is still a free/libre work released under The WTDHPL. The problem becomes, however, that modifications made by the entity or person re-licensing the work become proprietary, and some people to whom the work is conveyed may receive it under a nonfree license, without knowledge of their rights under The WTDHPL. To avoid this sort of situation, it's recommended that anytime a work under The WTDHPL is re-licensed that it be licensed under a free license that guarantees licensees their basic freedoms to use, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the licensed work.
If a work is licensed under The Do What The Darned Heck You Want To Public License (WTDHPL), that means I get a free pass with the work's trademarks, patents, and anything else I can think of, under clause 0, right?
No, trademarks and patents are separate rights that fall outside the scope of the license under which a particular work is distributed. Just having free license to use, copy, distribute, study, change and improve the licensed work any way one darned well pleases does not confer upon the licensee any rights to the patents or trademarks used within the work; those rights would probably have to be licensed separately depending upon a tangled web of laws and jurisdictions. If you need a free license that addresses patents, the GPL v3 (GNU General Public License, version 3) is well worth consideration.
References
What is free software?, Free Software Foundation, Inc., 2017. https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html , accessed Thu., Dec 7, 2017. ↑
CC0 - No Rights Reserved, Creative Commons, n.d. https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/ , accessed Thu., Dec 7, 2017. ↑
About the WTFPL, Wtfpl.net, 2017. http://www.wtfpl.net/about/ , accessed Thu., Dec 7, 2017. ↑
A Quick Guide to the GPL3, Free Software Foundation, Inc., 2014. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html , accessed Thu., Dec 7, 2017. ↑