Understanding Licensing & Compliance Intermediate 18m
The Legal Side of Open Source
Everything you've ever wondered about the legal side of open source, and a few things you didn't.
Learning outcomes
- Explain the legal implications of publishing code publicly on GitHub
- Select an appropriate open source license for a project
- Identify when a contributor license agreement (CLA) is needed
- Describe what a company's legal team needs to know about open source
Prerequisites
Open source basics
Cite this lesson
APA
GitHub (2026). The Legal Side of Open Source. UC OSPO Network. https://opensource.guide/legal/
BibTeX
@misc{the_legal_side_of_open_source_2026,
author = {{GitHub}},
title = {The Legal Side of Open Source},
year = {2026},
publisher = {UC OSPO Network},
url = {https://opensource.guide/legal/}
}