Unlicense

The Unlicense is a public domain dedication license template. It essentially disclaims all copyright interest in the work, effectively placing it into the public domain. It allows anyone to use, modify, and distribute the work, even for commercial purposes, without attribution or any other restrictions.

Unlike permissive licenses such as the MIT License or BSD licenses, which grant permissions but retain copyright, the Unlicense attempts to relinquish all copyright claims, making the work truly unencumbered.

The Unlicense consists of two parts: a statement disclaiming copyright to the fullest extent permitted by law, and a fallback license (typically the MIT License) in case the disclaimer is not legally effective in a particular jurisdiction. This fallback ensures that users still have permissions to use the work even if the copyright disclaimer fails.

The Unlicense is often favored by developers who wish to contribute code or other works to the public domain and avoid the complexities of traditional open-source licenses. It is considered compatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL). However, its legal validity has been debated, particularly concerning the effectiveness of the copyright disclaimer in all jurisdictions. Despite these debates, it is commonly understood and used as a method of releasing works into the public domain.