Elasticsearch Changes Its License Again: How Should Companies Respond?

Fri, 06 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Introduction: The Background of the Elasticsearch License

Elasticsearch began as an open source project and has since gone through several changes in licensing policy. Initially it was distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, but in 2021 Elastic changed its license to the Elastic License 2.0 and the Server Side Public License. Then, on August 30, 2024, it drew attention again with an announcement (Elasticsearch is Open Source, Again) adding back the AGPL-3.0.

Elastic License 2.0 and the Evolution of Open Source Licensing

Sun, 28 Mar 2021 00:00:00 +0000

This paper was translated by Haksung Jang from the English version available at this white paper. The original author, Heather Meeker, has not reviewed this translation.

Hello.

This article is based on a white paper about the Elastic License published on March 11, 2021 by Heather Meeker, a U.S. attorney specializing in open source law. Most of it is a translation of the original article, and I have added my own opinions as blockquotes.

For reference, while Heather Meeker presented this white paper as her personal view, she also disclosed that it received some funding from Elastic. Perhaps for that reason, the original article takes a favorable stance toward the Elastic License.

(A bit of digging turned up that Heather Meeker wrote Elastic License 2.0 herself.)

In any case, as the times change and software distribution methods shift, commercial open source companies have had to think about which licensing model to adopt in order to pursue both development and business at once, and I think this article helps in understanding one aspect of the background behind the Elastic License. If you find any errors in this article, please feel free to contact me at any time. :-)

My deep thanks to Sean and Robin of Kakao, and Kyoungae Kim of LG Electronics, for their help reviewing this article.

Elastic on OpenChain KWG

Elasticsearch Changes Its License Again: How Should Companies Respond?

Introduction: The Background of the Elasticsearch License

Elastic License 2.0 and the Evolution of Open Source Licensing