Legal Technology

Open source is far from free

Many executives fail to understand that any violation of an open-source license is a violation of copyright law, which gives rise to significant damages. Epstein Becker's William H. Venema surveys the legal and technical dangers of open source and advises how to manage the risks.

Open source license gets real

The New Media & Technology law blog has spotted a ruling by the Federal Circuit that lends support to the open source community to enforce and control the use of code according to the terms of the Artistic License. Jacobsen v. Katzer, No. 2008-1001 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 13, 2008).

Risk management for free software?

For-profit companies have new reasons to rethink their use of open source software, says Wolf Greenfield shareholder Edmund J. Walsh. Changed provisions of the General Public License and recent lawsuits to enforce it foreshadow new risks in the widespread use of free software.

Sun Microsystems suffering from open source malaise?

Hardly, according to Simon Phipps, chief open source officer for Sun Microsystems in response to Novell CEO Ron Hovsepian claim that Solaris and Open Solaris operating systems are going nowhere. Novell, like other Linux-based software providers, are feeling some pressure now that Solaris is open source.

But if anyone claims they have nailed a business model for open source software, see if they are also claiming to have invented the Internet. And, at the least, make sure they aren't just selling open source software like proprietary software.

For open source software, you should be able to download the software, gratis, and use it without restrictions, like Open Solaris. Also, the object code to the free version should be available for you to help yourself without a support contract. If not, the claim to open source is, indeed, not open source.