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+# IPFS Licensing Policy
+
+In order to ensure an open source project is actually open and re-usable in a legal sense, it’s critical that licensing information is clear. Repositories in the `ipfs`, `libp2p`, and `ipld` organizations should all follow this policy for licensing their contents.
+
+Unless there is a particular reason to use a different licensing structure, please use the following for new projects:
+
+1. Copyright should always be assigned to **Protocol Labs, Inc.,** regardless of the type of license. (In an ideal future, we can assign copyright to a foundation, but Protocol Labs is the best usable legal entity we have now.)
+
+2. All software code should be licensed under the MIT license. Canonical license text for the MIT license can be found in this repository’s [`LICENSE` file](../LICENSE) or at the [Open Source Initiative website](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT).
+
+2. All documentation and non-code resources (e.g. logos and imagery) should be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. An [easy-to-read, linkable description](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) and canonical license text in [HTML](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode) and [plain text](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.txt) can be found at the Creative Commons website.
+
+    If a repository is a software project with some built-in docs or resources (e.g. `go-ipfs`), it can all be licensed under the MIT license. The CC BY license is meant for projects that are not overwhelmingly code, such as websites, guidance, discussion repos, and so on.
+
+
+## Attaching a License
+
+When licensing a project, be sure to:
+
+1. Name the the license and provide a link to it from the project README under the heading “license.” Example:
+
+    ```md
+    ## License
+    
+    Copyright (c) Protocol Labs, Inc. under the **<LICENSE NAME>**. See [LICENSE file](./LICENSE) for details.
+    ```
+    
+    Or for multiple licenses:
+    
+    ```md
+    ## License
+    
+    All software code is copyright (c) Protocol Labs, Inc. under the **MIT license**.
+    
+    Other written documentation and content (c) Protocol Labs, Inc. under the **Creative Commons Attribution License**.
+    
+    See [LICENSE file](./LICENSE) for details.
+    ```
+
+2. For software that will be redistributed, the full text of the license(s) **must** be in a file named `LICENSE` in the repository root. Other projects **should** do this, too, but their readmes can alternatively link to a separate license document, like this: [Creative Commons Attribution](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
+
+
+## Contributor Licensing (DCO)
+
+We manage contributor licensing via a *Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO).* All commits with new code from any contributor **must** include a DCO signoff trailer. See the [contributing guide part 2](../CONTRIBUTING-2.md#a-license-and-a-signed-off-by-trailers-are-required) for more details. Commits with extremely trivial or changes or that do not change content (e.g. merge commits) are excepted.
+
+If you’re setting up a new repository, make sure the README includes a link to our contribution guidelines so people can find information about the DCO signoff.