Licenses serve as the means for implementing and developing the open-source theory by international open-source institutions. Among these, open-source licenses have rapidly evolved with a flexible approach, and their legal issues, particularly concerning the legal system of our country, have been less analyzed and scrutinized. In this article, employing an applied research approach and a library-based method by analyzing the legal evolution of the development of open-source theory from software to biotechnology, and comparing open-source licenses in these two fields as well as examining the types of licenses within them, we have endeavored to scrutinize the specific terms of open-source biotechnology licenses and their effects, considering their feasibility in Iranian law.
According to the results of this research, open-source biotechnology licenses are distinguished in terms of financial model, exclusive rights, ownership and access to the source code, and the right to modify and develop. While the application of open-source principles in the software field primarily relies on contractual freedom in licenses, in the biotechnology field it faces numerous restrictions. The necessity of free access to innovative information, biological materials, and tools required for innovation, non-assertion of intellectualproperty rights, non-liability for infringement of third-party rights, non-creation or transfer of said rights and other forms of property based on the open-source biotechnology license, and ultimately non-liability for consequences arising from the use of biological materials under the license are the specific terms of open-source biotechnology licenses, whose effects are discussed at the level of contracting parties and towards third parties.