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Software can be open source and not released. Employees can legally release it themselves since it is open source.


No, the software becomes "Open Source" or "Free Software" the moment someone licenses it to somebody else under such a license. Simply copying a file named LICENSE into some private directory has no legal relevance. As an employee, you usually don't get a license to the work artifacts you are working on.


Really no. The employee doesn’t have that right, it’s not theirs to release unless the employer gives permission.




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