2009 Ends with Heavy Hitting Open Source Lawsuits
In 2008, the open source community saw the year end with a headline catching lawsuit, the Free Software Foundation
files suit against Cisco for General Public License (GPL) violations. Not to be outdone, 2009 also ended with a bang. Best Buy, Samsung, JVC and eleven other consumer electronics companies were named in a copyright infringement lawsuit filed on December 14, 2009, by the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) on behalf of the
Software Freedom Conservancy. The scope of this lawsuit is unprecedented as it includes fourteen defendants.
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 The 6 Most Often Used Open Source Licenses
Despite the many benefits of OSS, companies often shy away from it because they do not fully understand the obligations of various licenses. There is fear that using OSS will require a company to give away all of its software for free -- this is not accurate. If you click on the link below, a matrix we have assembled will explain the primary obligations of some of the most frequently used open source licenses based on their salient obligations. As you will see, open source licenses can be diverse and can range from quite permissive to quite restrictive.
Please note that this is not an exhaustive explanation and it should not be construed as legal advice. Please consult with an attorney.
See matrix: 6 Most Often Used Open Source Licenses
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Protecode's Portfolio Comparison Services
Our Portfolio Comparison Services are increasingly in demand for a wide range of uses, from litigation purposes to preparing for new company spin-offs. Portfolio comparison services combine our licensing expertise with our software intellectual property (IP) analysis products to detect any similarities between two specific code portfolios and provide guidance and interpretation. Any detected similarities, both full and partial matches, are also analyzed against the Protecode Global IP Signatures database to reveal reuse of open source and third party code.
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Protecode Offers Integration with Development and ALM Solutions
“Using open source and other external software can speed product delivery and save costs; however, injecting any kind of 3rd party code into proprietary software can put the code base at risk,” said Mark Driver, Vice President and Research Director, Gartner Research. “With the growing usage of open source in mobile devices, embedded components, the healthcare industry, and the resulting changes in the landscape of software outsourcing, there is a need for IP management to anticipate code contamination and prevent costly legal action.”
In addition to LA, Protecode is offering new features in its EA product. This multi-purpose, standalone tool analyzes and identifies all code in a portfolio and produces customizable reports that identify all licensing attributes of the source or object code. These new EA features focus on usability and scalability for large enterprises, making analysis very simple and at the same time highly customizable. Improvements to EA include faster report navigation, customizable user roles and policy management, re-branded client interface and upgrade simplification.
“Whether you’re developing your own software, incorporating 3rd party components, or considering a business decision involving software assets, open source code can be introduced at any stage of the software development lifecycle,” said Kamal Hassin, Director of Product Management, Protecode. “Companies are finding it difficult to keep track of software components and the associated legal obligations. By integrating IP management with other application lifecycle management processes, license compliance becomes straightforward and efficient. Accelerating innovation doesn’t have to be a risky business.”
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Touching Base at the 2010 Open Source Business Conference
“Ask not what open-source software can do for you, but what you can do to ensure you’re using open-source software wisely and securely”, wrote Alex Handy of the SD Times about the message coming from the Open Source Business Conference
. The industry event took place on March 17-18, 2010 in San Francisco, and featured speakers, case studies and best practices from a wide range of companies, research firms and industry experts. Protecode was an emerging solutions sponsor of the conference, and also made a presentation entitled “Doing Business in an Open Source World: Practical Measures for Enabling Clean IP”.
The legal implications of using open source software in the enterprise are affecting technology, business, and legal teams throughout the company. A growing number of companies are appointing cross-disciplinary experts to “open source boards” responsible for making decisions about adoption of new tools and processes for open source usage and licensing compliance. This speaks to the growing complexity of the task since open source are often ambiguous, layered, and open to interpretation. The OSBC presentation focused on practical tools and measures for enabling clean IP by establishing a corporate IP policy, adopting and integrating new methods for license compliance, and strategies for managing and enforcing these methods going forward.
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