ITPEC FE Morning April 2020 Question 80
Which of the following is software whose copyright is abandoned and that can be used free of charge?
Explanation
Public domain software — its author has given up the copyright, so anyone may use, copy and modify it free of charge.
Once software is in the public domain nobody holds rights over it, so there are no licence conditions to follow. The other kinds of free or freely available software remain under copyright, and their use is governed by a licence.
Answer (c)
Why not others:
- •(a) Freeware — free to use, but the author keeps the copyright and may forbid modification or resale
- •(b) Open Source Software — the source code is published and may be modified and redistributed, but under a licence (GPL, MIT and others) that the copyright holder grants and whose conditions must be kept
- •(d) Shareware — may be tried for free, but continued use requires payment, and the copyright is retained
Key rule: Free of charge does not mean free of copyright; only public domain software has no copyright holder, while freeware, shareware and OSS are licensed.
Legal Affairs · AI-written, may contain errors
This question comes from an official ITPEC past paper. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with ITPEC. See the official FE past-paper collection or Report an issue.