Editing Source code (section)

== Copyright and licensing ==
{{main|Software copyright|Software license}}
{{see also|History of free and open-source software}}

The situation varies worldwide, but in the United States before 1974, software and its source code was not [[copyright]]able and therefore always [[public domain software]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Liu |first1=Joseph P.|last2=Dogan |first2= Stacey L.|date=2005|title=Copyright Law and Subject Matter Specificity: The Case of Computer Software|url=https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp/536/|journal=New York University Annual Survey of American Law|language=en|volume=61|issue=2 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625073240/https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/lsfp/536/ |archive-date=Jun 25, 2021}}</ref> In 1974, the US Commission on New Technological Uses of Copyrighted Works ([[CONTU]]) decided that "computer programs, to the extent that they embody an author's original creation, are proper subject matter of copyright".<ref>[http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1344&context=ggulrev Apple Computer, Inc. v. Franklin Computer Corporation Puts the Byte Back into Copyright Protection for Computer Programs] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170507231059/http://digitalcommons.law.ggu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1344&context=ggulrev |date=7 May 2017 }} in Golden Gate University Law Review Volume 14, Issue 2, Article 3 by Jan L. Nussbaum (January 1984)</ref><ref name="sail_book">Lemley, Menell, Merges and Samuelson. ''Software and Internet Law'', p. 34.</ref>

[[Proprietary software]] is rarely distributed as source code.{{sfn|Boyle|2003|p=45}} Although the term [[open-source software]] literally refers to [[source-available software|public access to the source code]],{{sfn|Morin ''et al.''|2012|loc=Open Source versus Closed Source}} open-source software has additional requirements: free redistribution, permission to modify the source code and release derivative works under the same license, and nondiscrimination between different uses—including commercial use.{{sfn|Sen ''et al.''|2008|p=209}}{{sfn|Morin ''et al.''|2012|loc=Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) Licensing}} The free [[software reuse|reusability]] of open-source software can speed up development.{{sfn|O'Regan|2022|p=106}}