Week 2 Free Post: Copyleft and Copyfree

The first time I heard this term was in my Wimba class Tuesday night.  While the class was still going I had to Google it to further understand it.  My search yielded the definition and a new word as well, copyfree. 

Copyleft is a play on the word copyright.  It describes the practice of using copyright law to offer the right to distribute copies and modified versions of a work and requires the same rights be preserved in modified versions of the work.  According to Wikepedia, it is a form of licensing and can be used to maintain copyright conditions for works such as computer software, documents and art.  Some very popular software products that utilize copyleft licensing are the Linux operating system and the internet browser Mozilla Firefox.

Copyfree is a policy of freedom to copy, use, modify, and distribute what you possess. Wikepedia contrasts this philosophy to both copyright and copyleft, in that it does not seek to limit or restrict your rights regarding your possessions at all. Copyfree is not about maintaining a limited monopoly on the product of the intellect, like copyright; nor is it about dictating terms of redistribution, like copyleft. It is about control over what you possess and allowing others to control what they possess.   Some popular projects that employ copyfree licensing are the Apache Web server software and the Unix operating system.