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Ask HN: How do I write a software license?

2 points by olavk ↗ HN
I need to choose (or write) a license for a piece of commercial software. I wonder if anyone here have some experience, ressources or good advice?

Are there some commmon boilerplate licenses I can find and copy, or do I need to write one from scratch? Can I write one myself, or do I need a lawyer to do it? Can I just write something in plain language, or do it have to be WITH CAPITAL LETTERS AND IN UNREADABLE LEGALESE to be valid?

The conditions I need are fairly ordinary - the software is licensed per user, but I want it to be freely usable for tryout and educational purposes.

3 comments

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markup
I suggest you to go for the lawyer, a good and skilled lawyer who understands software licensing issues.
cperciva
Talk to a lawyer, but I recommend looking at existing licenses (especially free software licenses) first and putting together a draft based on those. Lawyers almost never write anything from scratch; instead, they re-use boilerplate. If you turn up at your lawyer's office with a collection of boilerplate and say "here's what I've put together, here's what I think it means, can you see anything wrong with this" you'll end up paying far less than if you ask him to write everything for you.