Passport Without A Visa: Open Source Software Licensing and Trademarks

Harvey Anderson; General Counsel, Mozilla, USA ; Tiki Dare; Legal Director, Sun Microsystems, USA

Law; Trademarks; FOSS; Community;

Open source software has defied its sceptics and become a big business. Governments at the national, state and local level across the globe are requiring open source in their projects. Almost all major commercial software vendors use or distribute code under some open source license. As a user, it's hard to go a day on the web without interacting with some open source code which has replaced many server side legacy products. Worldwide more than 350 million consumers use open source ...

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2010-01-28

Peer-reviewed article

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 2 (2009); 99 - 110

en

The most restrictive licence we will accept for submission is Creative Commons BY-ND. However, we do encourage authors to add, as an exception, if they are using a no-derivatives licence, permission to faithfully translate the entire article into a different language. Note that we will not accept submissions under a licence restricting use on a non-commercial basis. GFDL is acceptable, as is dedication of an article to the public domain.

Open Source Policies and Processes For In-Bound Software

Karen Copenhaver

Virtually all companies use some amount of software that has been made available to the company under an open source license. The re-use of these valuable software components is inevitable and should not be discouraged. In addition to reducing the time and cost of development, re-use of components that have withstood the tests of time and the many eyeballs of critical peer review provides assurance of quality and reliability. As companies begin to recognize the enormous value ...

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2010-01-28

Platform article

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 2 (2009); 143 - 154

en

The most restrictive licence we will accept for submission is Creative Commons BY-ND. However, we do encourage authors to add, as an exception, if they are using a no-derivatives licence, permission to faithfully translate the entire article into a different language. Note that we will not accept submissions under a licence restricting use on a non-commercial basis. GFDL is acceptable, as is dedication of an article to the public domain.

Back To The Future: Hinton v Donaldson, Wood and Meurose (Court of Session, Scotland, 28th July, 1773)

Iain G Mitchell QC

Law; Copyright ; Case Law, Copyright

History moves in cycles, and recent debate around the extent and term of copyright is no exception to this rule. There are two forces at play, one being the view that knowledge is of value and indeed belongs to all mankind, and the other being that knowledge, as a creation of individuals, is property to be regulated and shared according to the wishes of its owner. This case law report examines the debate through a different lens, moving back from software and the Internet in favour ...

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2010-01-28

Case law analysis article

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 2 (2009); 111 - 122

en

The most restrictive licence we will accept for submission is Creative Commons BY-ND. However, we do encourage authors to add, as an exception, if they are using a no-derivatives licence, permission to faithfully translate the entire article into a different language. Note that we will not accept submissions under a licence restricting use on a non-commercial basis. GFDL is acceptable, as is dedication of an article to the public domain.

5 Reasons To Care About Mobile Cloud Computing

Fabrizio Capobianco; Funambol Srl

Law; Business; Computing ; Cloud computing, Free and Open Source Software, Mobile computing, mobile cloud computing, Open Cloud Manifesto

Funambol Inc.'s Fabrizio Capobianco explores the technical and market opportunities presented by the intersection of cloud technologies and rapid advances in mobile computing for Free & Open Source software. In doing so he exposes the unique needs of this new market segment, and the legal challenges which may arise from its development.

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2010-01-28

Invited Commentary ; Background report, opinion

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 2 (2009); 139 - 142

en

The most restrictive licence we will accept for submission is Creative Commons BY-ND. However, we do encourage authors to add, as an exception, if they are using a no-derivatives licence, permission to faithfully translate the entire article into a different language. Note that we will not accept submissions under a licence restricting use on a non-commercial basis. GFDL is acceptable, as is dedication of an article to the public domain.

Patents and their effect on Standards: Open video codecs for HTML5

Silvia Pfeiffer

Standards; Patents ; Standards; Patents; World Wide Web; HTML5; Video codecs

HTML5 is an updated version of the hypertext markup language that has been empowering the World Wide Web for the last 20 years. One of the things that HTML5 introduces is a element, which make video content as simple to include into Web pages as images. Similar to the issues that had to be overcome with the introduction of the tag in 1993, we are now facing the issue of a common baseline codec for the element – a format that all browser vendors can implement from a rights point ...

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2010-01-28

Invited Commentary ; Case study

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 2 (2009); 131 - 138

en

The most restrictive licence we will accept for submission is Creative Commons BY-ND. However, we do encourage authors to add, as an exception, if they are using a no-derivatives licence, permission to faithfully translate the entire article into a different language. Note that we will not accept submissions under a licence restricting use on a non-commercial basis. GFDL is acceptable, as is dedication of an article to the public domain.

Packaging Open Source

Mark H. Webbink

Law ; Copyright, Free and Open Source Software, Packaging, Licensing, Virtual Applicance

The paper examines the historical approaches for packaging softwareand what effect open source licenses may have on the rights that are conveyed or not conveyed based upon the packaging approach.  The paper then suggests some best practices that maximize the value of an application in the context of a virtual appliance - protecting the application intellectual property while maintaining compliance with open source license requirements.

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2010-01-28

Peer-reviewed article ; Case law review, legal analysis

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 2 (2009); 83 - 98

en

The most restrictive licence we will accept for submission is Creative Commons BY-ND. However, we do encourage authors to add, as an exception, if they are using a no-derivatives licence, permission to faithfully translate the entire article into a different language. Note that we will not accept submissions under a licence restricting use on a non-commercial basis. GFDL is acceptable, as is dedication of an article to the public domain.

'Open Source Technology and Policy' by Fadi P. Deek and James A.M. McHugh

Andrew Katz

Public Policy, Law, ; Law; information technology; technology policy; public policy; Free and Open Source Software

Andrew Katz casts a critical eye over Fadi P. Deek and James A.M. McHugh's three-part study of open source principles and practice, assessing the relevance of the volume's research, and the merits of its balanced approach to introducing new software development models.

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2009-07-13

Non-refereed Book Review ; Book review

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 1 (2009); 45 - 48

en

Introducing The Risk Grid

Shane Martin Coughlan ; Andrew Katz; Moorcrofts

Law, Supply Chain Managemnet, Procurement, Contracts

A Special Interest Group of the European Legal Network discussed issues around the commercial procurement of Free/Open Source Software, and methods to reduce or contain risk in transactions related to the supply chain. The initial focus of this group was on creating generic contractual language for use by Customers when establishing a relationship with a Supplier. However, it quickly became apparent that for a true solution far more than generic contractual language was required. ...

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2009-07-13

Peer-reviewed article

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 1 (2009); 33 - 40

en

http://www.ifosslr.org/ifosslr/article/download/10/25 ; http://www.ifosslr.org/ifosslr/article/download/10/49

Collaboration Among Counsel Celebrating the Formation of a Community of Lawyers for the Advancement of Understanding of Free and Open Source Licensing and Business Models

Karen Faulds Copenhaver; Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP

Law ; Lawyers, Ethics, FOSSBazaar, FUD, Patents, Copyrights, GPL, derivative work, intellectual property, compliance, jurisdictions

How do we advance the development of sound legal constructs for FOSS without waiting for the results of litigation?  Through the same sorts of collaborative development models that brought us open source software.  But, because there are legitimate concerns that cause lawyers to hesitate before jumping in to a discussion thread, the development of private places for conversations among lawyers is a positive development that will result in benefits for the entire community.

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2009-07-13

Platform article

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 1 (2009); 53 - 62

en

Foreword and statement of purpose: an introduction to IFOSS L. Rev.

Iain G Mitchell QC

Law, ; Law; information technology; Free and Open Source Software;

This editorial article by the Editorial Committee of the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review introduces the  rationale behind the publication's establishment, its objectives and operating methods. The editorial also presents an overview of the articles which comprise the first issue.

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

2009-07-13

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review; Vol 1, No 1 (2009); 3 - 8

en