Open Licensing in Slovakia

License and Open License

 A license
  • is a document that specifies what can and cannot be done with a work (sound, text, image or multimedia),
  • grants permissions and states restrictions.
An open license
  • grants permission to access, re-use and redistribute a work with few or no restrictions.

More at Open Knowledge Definition 1.0.

Flag-slovakiaSlovakia

In Slovakia, open licenses were included in the Slovak Copyright Act as “public licenses (verejné licencie) in 2013.” 

Under the Slovak Copyright Act no.185/2015 Coll./Slovenský autorský zákon č.185/2015 Z. .z. (§ 76) a public license allows:

  • an author offers to grant usage rights to an unspecified group of people,
  • the public accepts the license simply by using the work in accordance with its predefined conditions,
  • the license must be non-exclusive (nevýhradná) – the author retains the right to use the work and grant identical rights to others,
  • the license must be provided free of charge (bezodplatná),
  • the license is irrevocable – the author cannot terminate or revoke it unilaterally.

More information

Website: Autorské právo (Copyright): https://otvorenaveda.cvtisr.sk/autorske-prava-copyrights/ 

Webinar series: Adamová, Z. (2025, December 2). Verejné licencie z pohľadu autorského práva. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17787245 

Presentation: Fisova_Open Access and Open Licensing.pdf in: Proudman, V., Jiřát, J., Kadlec Markova, M., Dobbersteinova, J., Walek, A., Hnatkova, E., & Fišová, G. (2023). Slovak Open Science Forum. Slovak Open Science Forum (SOSF), Bratislava, Slovakia. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10220476

Image source: Slovenská vlajka: Freepik