Public Domain Software

Why Trust Techopedia

What Does Public Domain Software Mean?

Public domain software is any software that has no legal, copyright or editing restrictions associated with it. It is free and open-source software that can be publicly modified, distributed or sold without any restrictions. SQLite, I2P and CERN httpd are popular examples of public domain software.

Advertisements

Techopedia Explains Public Domain Software

Public domain software has no ownership and is available for use, modification and commercialization by anyone. Typically, public domain software is intentionally or voluntarily uncopyrighted, unpatented and is unrestricted by its developer/author. It is different from free software and freeware that does has copyrights and patents associated with it.

Although there are no licensing requirements with public domain software, The Unlicense, Creative Commons License and WTFPL are based on a similar approach.

Advertisements

Related Terms

Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.