szoftverlicenc

in English: software license

basicwidespread

A software license is a legal permission that specifies who can use, copy, modify, or distribute a program, for what purpose, and under what conditions.

In plain terms

When you 'buy' or download a program, you generally do not acquire rights over the program itself, but only the right to use it. It is like renting an apartment: you can live in it, but the contract dictates whether you can repaint the walls, sublet it, or when you must move out. The software license is this contract.

A license clarifies what is allowed and what is not. The program creator uses it to protect their work, and you learn from it how many machines you can install it on, whether you can use it for business purposes, whether you can modify the code, and whether you can redistribute it.

There are two major families. The closed (proprietary) license typically only allows use, often for money, and you do not see the source code. The open-source license allows you to view, modify, and redistribute the code, but it also has conditions, such as preserving the author's name and the license text.

In the AI world, the same question arises in new places. Downloadable models also have licenses, and many of these are not open source because they restrict, for example, commercial use. External packages and libraries that a coding agent installs into your project also have their own licenses.

How it works

When a program is written, copyright automatically belongs to its creator. For a program written in an employment relationship, the economic rights usually pass to the employer. As a rule, no one other than them may copy, modify, or distribute the software, except in narrow cases specifically permitted by law.
The creator chooses or writes a license that lists what others are permitted to do with it: use, copy, modify, distribute, and under what conditions.
With proprietary software, the license is typically accepted via the "I Accept" button or a subscription at installation. With open source, there is no separate acceptance. You must comply with the terms when you copy, modify, and especially when you redistribute the code.
Conditions vary by type. Permissive licenses (e.g., MIT, Apache) mainly require preserving the author's name and license text. "Copyleft" licenses (e.g., GPL) also mandate that if you distribute a modified version, you must do so under the same open terms and include the source code.
If someone violates the terms, they may lose the right to use the software, and the rights holder can take action based on copyright or contract law.

An everyday example

You install a new program on your laptop, and a long text pops up that most people accept without reading: this is the license agreement. It states, for example, that the home package cannot be used in your company, or that the program stops after the subscription expires.

Who is affected

developerEvery embedded external code snippet is subject to a license, even if the code was selected not by them but by a coding agent. → Code

entrepreneur, executiveThe company is responsible for ensuring that every piece of software it uses has a valid license matching its actual use. Without one, the outcome can be a damages lawsuit or, in severe cases, criminal proceedings.

employeeLicenses for programs used in home or free versions often prohibit workplace or business use. → Work & HR

everyoneYou accept a license defining your rights whenever you install almost any mobile app or computer program.

A common misconception

MythAnything that is free to download or open-source can be used for anything.

In realityFree does not mean free to use, and open-source licenses also have mandatory conditions. If there is no license at all for publicly available code, then by default you may not copy, modify, or distribute it without the author's permission.

Limits and risks

The license text is a legal document where details matter: 'free', 'non-commercial', and 'open source' are three different things.
Code with different licenses cannot always be mixed: a component with a strict copyleft license can affect the distribution terms of your entire product.
You must verify the license of packages suggested or installed by a coding agent, as the agent may not do this, and the responsibility lies with you.
The license may change: the vendor can alter the terms in a new version, and several well-known open projects have already switched to a stricter, non-open license. For open projects, previously released versions remain usable under the old license.

Similar, but not the same

copyright – Copyright is protection arising from law, while a license is the permission by which the rights holder transfers some of these rights to others.
terms of use – Terms of use regulate the use of an online service, while a license governs the use and copying of the software itself.
open source – Open source is a type of software made open specifically by its license; the software license is a broader concept that also applies to closed programs.

Related concepts

Broader

Narrower

open-source license, tulajdonosi licenc, copyleft, end-user license agreement, modell-licenc

On the edge

open source, open-weight model, dependency, terms of use, coding agent

A brief history

Software licensing became important when programs began to be sold as separate, standalone products apart from the hardware; a key milestone was IBM's 1969 announcement that it would price its software separately. The best-known free-software license, the first version of the GNU GPL, appeared in 1989, and the Open Source Initiative, which approves open-source licenses, was founded in 1998.

Where things stand

At the end of 2026, virtually every piece of software comes with a license, and in many areas, such as office and design programs, subscriptions have replaced one-time purchases. There is a lively debate about how licenses can be applied to AI models, training data and code written by agents.

Status: 2026 November

In the news

Appears in 17 Agent Age stories; the curve shows weekly occurrence in the news magazine.

Ethan Mollick publishes Portals, a browser-based 3D experience of 471 generated worlds built by agent teamsNov 9, 2026 · Code
Schools order nearly 150,000 free AI licences in HungaryOct 30, 2026 · Education & Family
Princeton to give all students and staff ChatGPT accounts as UT pays about $4.2 million for AI servicesOct 26, 2026 · Education & Family
Copyright and AI: India, Australia and Taiwan debate rules as international study appearsOct 26, 2026 · Jog
Google launches free AI tool for teachers; Jisc partnership in UK, 96,000 Gemini licences in GhanaOct 19, 2026 · Education & Family
Zealand Pharma and Generate Biomedicines sign $1.2 billion AI agreementOct 13, 2026 · Health
Publishers team up to set rules for AI content useOct 12, 2026 · Marketing
Jamendo sues Nvidia again in California over commercial AI training on research music datasetOct 12, 2026 · Jog

Also known as

szoftverlicenc · szoftver licenc · licenc · license agreement · usage license · software license · software licence · EULA

Sources

This entry was machine-edited and has undergone machine expert review; the “In the news” section updates automatically from Agent Age stories.