I wrote a software that used some pieces code from other software under a little modification. I'm confused by those copy right term and license term. Where should I put those copyright or license statement?
Here is the detail, there are three project called A, B and C. A use LGPL license. B use no license but put some copyright statement in a file called LICENSE. C use neither license nor copyright statement. It only write a line indicating author.
I took pieces of code from those projects and modified them (I only took some functions actually). So what should I do?
I already checked other questions. They said putting a file called LICENSE into root directory would be enough. But what should I do with that file?
Can anybody help? Thank you.
The LICENSE file will contain information on what kind of license your code is using.
This license should not violate any terms in the license of A,B or C(which you should stay away from as it doesn't have a license) as Jeff Atwood explains:
Because I did not explicitly indicate a license, I declared an implicit copyright without explaining how others could use my code. Since the code is unlicensed, I could theoretically assert copyright at any time and demand that people stop using my code. Experienced developers won't touch unlicensed code because they have no legal right to use it.
Without a license, the code is copyrighted by default. People can read the code, but they have no legal right to use it. To use the code, you must contact the author directly and ask permission.
source: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/04/pick-a-license-any-license.html
As far as mentioning the projects(A/B/C) from which you have taken code from goes, it is only necessary if the license of A/B/C requires you to do so.
A sample LICENSE file template:
project_name by author
This file is part of project_name. project_name is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
project_name is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with project_name. If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.