The centerpiece of the course is the project. You will be assigned to a team of four students whose objective is to work with a client to understand the client’s needs, define an acceptable solution, and then deliver a working system. This session, the project clients are the professors. The goal is still to solve a real world problem. You may want to consider releasing your work as open source. However, if you do go this route, and we encourage you to consider it, you must get concurrence from all your team-mates. You all will own the copyright to the code, and as such, all must agree (unanimously) on any decision to share.
If you have any legal questions or concerns, you should consult a licensed attorney. Northeastern University's IP-CO lab, led by students at the School of Law and faculty from the law and business schools, is a resource where students may receive information.