contribute-back clauses

A “contribute back clause” is a license provision that obligates users or customers to return certain modifications or improvements to the project, often under specific terms. It is not a standard open-source concept but shows up in commercial, source-available, or enterprise licenses as a way to capture downstream innovation.

Some BSL/BUSL-style or proprietary licenses include contribute back language for changes or derivative works made by licensees, especially for internal forks and enhancements. Pure open source licenses (MIT, Apache 2.0, GPL) do not require you to upstream your modifications, though copyleft licenses require you to share source with recipients of the binaries. They grant rights one-way (from licensor to user) rather than mandating that the user grant IP rights back, which is why a contribute back clause is more associated with commercial or hybrid licensing models.