IPA IP 2026 Question 73

A question IPA Japan published in 令和8年度 ITパスポート試験公開問題問73, translated into English. ITPEC is based on the same exams.

Which of the following is an appropriate description concerning copyleft in the licenses of OSS (Open Source Software)?

a)The creator of the OSS has waived the copyright of the software.b)The copyright holder of the OSS must demand monetary compensation from users for their use of the software.c)Derivative software that a user of the OSS created by modifying it can be distributed while the source code of the modified parts is kept undisclosed.d)When derivative software that a user of the OSS created by modifying it is distributed, the same license as that of the original OSS must be applied.

Explanation

Derivatives must be distributed under the same licence — copyleft passes the freedoms of the original OSS on to every modified version.

Copyleft does not give up copyright; it uses it to keep the software free. Anyone may use, modify and redistribute the software, but whoever distributes a derivative work must apply the same licence to it and make its source code available, so the modified version stays open too. The GNU GPL is the typical copyleft licence. Permissive licences such as the MIT and BSD licences have no copyleft: a derivative may be distributed under another licence, even as closed source.

Answer (d)

Why not others:

•(a) — copyleft relies on copyright: the author keeps it and sets the licence terms; waiving copyright would put the work in the public domain, where no condition could be imposed
•(b) — OSS may be sold, but no OSS licence obliges the copyright holder to charge users, and most OSS is free of charge
•(c) — distributing a modified version while keeping the modified source closed is exactly what copyleft forbids; only a permissive licence allows it

Key rule: Copyleft (GPL): derivatives must be distributed under the same licence with their source code; permissive licences (MIT, BSD, Apache) let derivatives change the licence.

Software · AI-written, may contain errors

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This question comes from the past questions IPA Japan publishes, translated into English by ITPEC Practice. ITPEC Practice is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with IPA or ITPEC. See the original paper (PDF) or Report an issue.