Latest in Industry and Research Publications
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How to read open source license obligations
Interpreting open source licenses requires considerable skills and experience. Ideally, engineers and lawyers work together: Lawyers know the meaning and consequences of legal terms, and engineers can make sense of it in the context of software. There are some basics, however, that help set your thinking straight. A critical aspect is: What is a (re-)distribution…
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Open source license compliance and work-for-hire
A common question that I am asked in my seminar on license-compliant delivery of products that contain open source software is: But what about a work-for-hire? We are a consulting company: As we work for our clients, and use open source software, do we have to create all those legal notices? The answer, as so…
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Three reasons why companies are creating their own open source consortium
Most open source these days, certainly the most widely used open source, is developed by companies. Open source, by definition, is competitively non-differentiating, so companies can join forces in its development. To so do peacefully, however, they need good governance that preempts conflicts among the participating companies. Such governance is usually provided under the auspices…