Simple Question about Open Source Licenses

Hi Everyone, Thank you for helping me with these Simple issues. I Have one Simple Question about Open Source Licenses, I want just to know, Can Documentations Or Articles or Even eBooks on the Web be licensed under Open Source Licenses like: Apache-2.0, CERN-OHL1.2+, CERN-OHL2, GPL3+, LGPL3+, MIT, MPL-2.0, SHL0.51+, TAPR-OHL? I am not talking about Creative Commons Licenses, I talk about just these Licenses Wich used for Open Source Hardware, but my Question is just about using them for Documentations and Articles on the WebSites.

For Example, if you looking at this Open Source Electronic Projects Hub WebSite called Hackster.io You will find that Any Project Published by Users Licensed Under one of these Licenses:

Apache License 2.0 (Apache-2.0)
CERN Open Hardware Licence version 1.2 (CERN-OHL1.2+)
CERN Open Hardware License version 2 (CERN-OHL2)
GNU General Public License, version 3 or later (GPL3+)
GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 or later (LGPL3+)
MIT license (MIT)
Mozilla Public License 2.0 (MPL-2.0)
Solderpad Hardware License version 0.51 or later (SHL0.51+)
TAPR Open Hardware License (TAPR-OHL)

For Example, look at these Project:

  1. Under GPL3+: https://www.hackster.io/CesarSound/10khz-to-225mhz-vfo-rf-generator-with-si5351-version-2-bfa619

  2. Under MIT: https://www.hackster.io/team-matlab-iot/make-your-air-safer-alerting-indoor-iot-air-quality-monitor-5eb90d

  3. Under Apache-2.0: https://www.hackster.io/naveenbskumar/voice-recognition-using-psoc6-ble-pioneer-kit-cbe0de

So is that mean the Articles or the Documentations of these Projects are Licensed under these Open Source Licenses? Or not, It’s just the Schematic, PCB, Enclosure, and the Firmware are Licensed under the Open Source Licence mentioned in the Project? So the Article or Documentation is Copyghrited?

In this WebSite Users Allowed to share Projects under Creative Commons Licenses as under Open Source Licenses, They need just to Select the License of the Project when Submitting Content.

So Can Documentations Or Articles or Even eBooks on the Web be Licensed under these Open Source Licenses? Thank you very much.

According to GNU.org, you can apply the gpl class of licenses to any type of work:

https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLOtherThanSoftware

Interesting to note, gnu.org recommend using the GFDL instead of GPL.

I’m not sure about the other licenses.

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The only thing that matters, when it comes to the issue of “protecting your work”, is how much money you are willing to throw at lawyers.

No license on Earth offers protection in and of itself. They aren’t worth the paper they are printed on unless you can afford to enforce the terms of the license in a court of law.

Even if a license breach occurs, and even if you can afford lawyers, and even if you take it to court, and even if you win, there are no guarantees whatsoever that you will even recover the amount you spent on lawyers.

Licenses exist primarily as a way for people who already have a lot of money to get even more money from people who also have a lot of money. It’s not a game that ordinary people can play and expect to win.

If you create documentation, and put it on the Internet, expect it to get stolen. If it is any good at all it WILL be stolen. Multiple times. Probably by people in other countries. Unless you have tens of thousands of dollars to waste on lawyers and international lawsuits, don’t even bother with (restrictive) licenses — they won’t do you any good.

The number of license-based lawsuits that have been profitably fought and won by ‘a little guy’ over the last two decades can probably be counted on a single hand. The chances of you ever being that little guy are astronomically small.

Probably better to look at online publishing as a way to build up a public portfolio of work, in the hope of attracting the attention of a publisher. Slap a very permissive license (e.g. MIT/BSD/CC BY/CC0) on it, or just put it into the Public Domain. Focus on producing more good work, rather than worrying about theft and licenses.

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