What are the requirements for the code to become commercially licensed?

Question

Copyright

How (and who) determines that a certain program (code) may have a commercial license that prohibits use without the consent of the author?

For example What exactly is stopping me from releasing this under a commercial license and requiring everyone to use it only with my permission? Where is the border, what are the criteria, requirements?

console.log('hello')

Answer 1

When you write code, it is automatically copyrighted. Additionally, you, as the author, can attach a license to it, which specifies what you can and cannot do with the code.
However, the problem is that anyone can change a few lines of your code and claim to have written it themselves. Now is such a time that it is very difficult to prove that the code was stolen from you. In particular, very simple type code console.log('hello')cannot be protected at all.
The criterion of authorship is very simple - it is a trial. You go to court and complain about a specific person that he stole the code from you. The court then decides whether you are right or not. As mentioned above, winning such a case is very difficult. Unless someone took your code with a prohibiting license attached, did not cut anything and used it as is in their project.

Answer 2

Good afternoon.
I completely did not understand your question, but I can answer how the issue with the definition of licenses is solved.
Commercial license comes from the word commerce. That is, if you wrote the code and posted it on the network / market for sale. Then this code becomes commercial, or rather a product that consists of a code. The code itself cannot be commercial, a commercial product is made in the form of a code, for which you ask for the appropriate price in currency, that is, you sell your product.
The code itself cannot be commercial, when programming we use orders of algorithms, etc., that is, the code itself has no individuality, and the product released by the programmer has and can be classified as a product for which the manufacturer has the opportunity to ask for money in such cases the product becomes commercial!

Answer 3

You are confusing a patent for use with a commercial license.