A software company can explore licensing a defined set of documentation, subject to buyer interest and review of the rights it can grant. Separate product specifications, decision records, issue histories, and runbooks from source code and customer content.
- Inventory the documentation by purpose and responsible team.
- Identify version history and links between records.
- Define source code, customer contributions, and third-party material separately.
Name the documentation you mean.
“Our product documentation” could describe a public help center, internal design decisions, an API reference, or a collection of release notes. Those sets explain different things. Start by naming the category and the team that maintains it.
A hypothetical product change might connect a requirement, two design options, an engineering issue, and a release note. A useful inventory records those connections and identifies missing steps. It does not treat every document as interchangeable.
Separate five record types.
Use this framework to discuss the documentation with product, engineering, and support leads.
| Record type | What to identify |
|---|---|
| Product specification | Requirement, constraints, and relevant versions |
| Design decision | Options considered and recorded reasoning |
| Issue history | Problem, discussion, and linked changes |
| Release documentation | What changed and when it became available |
| Internal runbook | Procedure, owner role, and updates |
Check the links and versions.
GitHub Issues can track tasks, ideas, and bugs, and link to pull requests. For an engineering archive, identify which relationships remain accessible and whether the linked material falls within the proposed scope.
Do not infer a complete decision history from the current document. Ask whether earlier versions, linked discussions, and dates are retained. A polished final specification may omit alternatives that were considered earlier.
Source: GitHub: About issues
Treat an export as a separate preparation task.
Notion supports exports in formats including HTML and Markdown, with CSV for databases. The existence of those formats does not tell you which structure, links, or history a proposed evaluation needs.
If a buyer later requests a sample, agree the category, fields, date range, format, and exclusions first. Have the responsible team verify that the prepared material represents the defined scope. Keep the initial inventory at the level of descriptions.
Source: Notion: Export your content
Identify contributions and exclusions.
A product team’s workspace may include employee writing, contractor work, licensed diagrams, customer requests, and open-source references. Identify the sources instead of assuming every item has the same ownership position.
U.S. copyright law distinguishes the ownership of a copy from ownership of the copyright. The relevant agreements and rights need review before a license is granted.
Keep source code, credentials, customer submissions, and client-owned deliverables separate in the inventory. If a request includes them, make that scope explicit and involve the appropriate reviewers.
Source: U.S. Copyright Office: ownership of a copy and copyright
Prepare the first internal review.
Ask each team for a category, approximate date range, responsible role, connected records, and known restrictions. Add whether the material is public or internal, current-only or versioned, and original or partly supplied by others.
Use the inventory template to assemble those answers. The company-data pricing guide explains which commercial questions to ask when an actual offer is available.
Common questions
Does documentation licensing include source code?
Only if the agreed scope includes it and the relevant rights can be granted. Define documentation and source code as separate categories during the review.
Can public documentation still need a rights review?
Yes. Public availability does not establish that a recipient has permission for every proposed use. Review authorship, license terms, and the specific request.