Considerations about the copyright, usage rights and other licensing context

• This is not a license, nor a copyright notice, neither a legal document, just a “warning notice” for possible license concerns.
• If you need a license, first try to search for one, that can be applicable to you in the given context. Possible locations can be:
  • ./LICENSE or ./LICENSE.txt or ./LICENSE.md or ./LICENSE.html file
  • ./LICENSE or ./license folder and it’s content,
  • ./copyright-notice.txt or ./copyright-notice.md file
  • references on the “Legal” section of the ./README.md file
  • or other sensible places.
• If you are in a serious doubt, you might consider seeking for a professional help from a lawyer or organization specialized in Intellectual Property Law

Loose term definitions to reduce scope

• ‘direct parent container’: the folder, project, repository, database item, filesystem element or other entity that directly contains this warning notice (according to the user perceived system/folder hierarchy) is the probable candidate for this concept, that I will refer to as ‘direct parent container’
• ‘related files and data’: any data that is located inside the direct parent container - including subfolders, subprojects, files, source code, datasets, documents, text, visual and audio content

If there is no valid and applicable license present partially or entirely (‘missing license’), consider the following

• In case of ‘missing license’, consider the “No License”, “no permission” and “all rights are reserved” possibilities.
• In some cases default rights, terms of service, fair use, public domain use or other conditions might apply,
  • but I can’t give you here any legal advice whatsoever on when and how these things might or might not apply to your specific case.
• For projects and repositories hosted on GitHub, it can be helpful to visit the GitHub Terms of Service
• For other ‘related files and data’ you can try to search for terms or conditions of the service provider or entity that hosts or stores the ‘direct parent container’

Possible reasons for missing license might include, but not limited to:

• The authoring entities (‘authors’):
  • has no intention to give you a license, and they want to “reserve all rights” (that they can).
  • forgot to provide a license or don’t know how to do it properly.
  • have not yet decided on how to license their work.
  • want to preserve the most possible rights until they choose to license it.
• The ‘authors’ might be in a belief
  • that the some or all of the ‘related files and data’ are outside of the scope of copyright
    • for example: not a unique work or already in the public domain elsewhere etc.
  • the work is not ready to be released to the general public
    • possibly not even as beta version or “work in progress”
  • the work is personal or private in nature, and it should not be used outside this context
  • the work is not worth the struggle to license it
  • the work contains elements that makes licensing hard or not possible for them

Either way, consider not making a hasty assumption, better to confirm the reasons with the ‘authors’, if that is possible

Further reading if “license is missing”: https://choosealicense.com/no-permission/

No License
When you make a creative work (which includes code), the work is
under exclusive copyright by default. Unless you include a license
that specifies otherwise, nobody else can copy, distribute, or modify
your work without being at risk of take-downs, shake-downs, or
litigation. Once the work has other contributors (each a copyright
holder), “nobody” starts including you.

Even in the absence of a license file, you may grant some rights in
cases where you publish your source code to a site that requires
accepting terms of service. For example, if you publish your source
code in a public repository on GitHub, you have accepted the Terms of
Service, by which you allow others to view and fork your repository.
Others may not need your permission if limitations and exceptions to
copyright apply to their particular situation. Neither site terms nor
jurisdiction-specific copyright limitations are sufficient for the
kinds of collaboration that people usually seek on a public code
host, such as experimentation, modification, and sharing as fostered
by an open source license.

You don’t have to do anything to not offer a license. You may,
however, wish to add a copyright notice and statement that you are
not offering any license in a prominent place (e.g., your project’s
README) so that users don’t assume you made an oversight. If you’re
going to accept others’ contributions to your non-licensed project,
you may wish to explore adding a contributor agreement to your
project with your lawyer so that you maintain copyright permission
from contributors, even though you’re not granting the same.

Disallowing use of your code might not be what you intend by “no
license.” An open source license allows reuse of your code while
retaining copyright. If your goal is to completely opt-out of
copyright restrictions, try a public domain dedication instead.

For users
If you find software that doesn’t have a license, that generally
means you have no permission from the creators of the software to
use, modify, or share the software. Although a code host such as
GitHub may allow you to view and fork the code, this does not imply
that you are permitted to use, modify, or share the software for any
purpose.

Your options:
* Ask the maintainers nicely to add a license. Unless the software
includes strong indications to the contrary, lack of a license is
probably an oversight. If the software is hosted on a site like
GitHub, open an issue requesting a license and include a link to this
site. If you’re bold and it’s fairly obvious what license is most
appropriate, open a pull request to add a license – see “suggest this
license” in the sidebar of the page for each license on this site
(e.g., MIT).
* Don’t use the software. Find or create an alternative that is under
an open source license.
* Negotiate a private license. Bring your lawyer.

Attribution:

• https://choosealicense.com/about/
• https://github.com/github/choosealicense.com

Important notices by the ‘authors’

These notices are not considered as part of any license agreement for the ‘related files and data’, but they are important warnings and guidelines provided by the ‘authors’.

Failure to comply with these notices are not always directly enforceable by the law, but they can have other implications, like technical issues, reduced credibility in a given community etc.

Documentation

• Refer to the ./README.md file as well for further information before operating the software or using any ‘related files and data’.
• Do not use the ‘related files and data’, if you are not confident in your usage rights, or in possible technical issues, that can arise.

Images, pictures and graphics

• Avoid using images from the ‘direct parent container’ outside of the original context of the ‘direct parent container’
  • If you want to use an image in another context, please locate the source and get the image directly from the source
• Images might be from a free image library, like https://pixabay.com/
  • Read the pixabay license for further information

AS IS (NO WARRANTY)

• If you are in doubt, you might consider not using or spreading any of the ‘related files and data’!
• Unless otherwise stated in a valid and applicable license or other legal document, no warranty shall apply.
• Consider the relevant sections (Disclaimer of Warranty, Limitation of Liability) in the GPLv3 as a general rule of thumb
  • Further reading: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.md

The block below is not the whole license, just the relevant parts copied here:

#### 15. Disclaimer of Warranty.

THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY
APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT
WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND
PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE
DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR
CORRECTION.

#### 16. Limitation of Liability.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR
CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT
NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR
LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM
TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER
PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

#### 17. Interpretation of Sections 15 and 16.

If the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided
above cannot be given local legal effect according to their terms,
reviewing courts shall apply local law that most closely approximates
an absolute waiver of all civil liability in connection with the
Program, unless a warranty or assumption of liability accompanies a
copy of the Program in return for a fee.

Attribution:

• https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html
• https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#ModifyGPL