IT Department Software is licensed either through bilateral Collaboration Agreements or as open source software. Generally, the nature and style of development of the software are key parameters when choosing the mode of licensing.

Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)

A frequent mistake, when discussing forms of software publishing is to confuse public domain (which implies relinquishing IPRs) and free software or open source mode where IPRs are retained.

When IT publishes software, it always uses modes where IPRs are retained –that is maintaining a CERN copyright statement in the software (see below).

By so doing, CERN protects the rights of the outside users, in particular by preventing third parties to turn free software into proprietary software , thus denying the users the right to freely use the material.