Comments on: Federal Circuit holds that failure to comply with open source license terms also violates copyright law http://ipspotlight.com/2008/08/18/federal-circuit-holds-that-failure-to-comply-with-open-source-license-terms-also-violates-copyright-law/ News from the intersection of intellectual property and business law Wed, 03 Feb 2010 07:13:54 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: Peter Vescuso http://ipspotlight.com/2008/08/18/federal-circuit-holds-that-failure-to-comply-with-open-source-license-terms-also-violates-copyright-law/#comment-1811 Peter Vescuso Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:48:06 +0000 http://ipspotlight.wordpress.com/?p=151#comment-1811 While the appeals court decision is certainly an important move for software creators, and one that organizations should review carefully, it should not scare people from using open source within development. More and more companies that are using open source code are doing so in the right way, so that licensing and other obligations are met. Black Duck sees the court decision as more of a wake up call to software development organizations without a proper open source use policy in place, rather than an industry-shifting milestone. Open source is becoming an increasingly important and strategic component of today's software development process - enabling faster and more cost effective product evolution. Underscoring its importance, Gartner recently found that 47% of the companies surveyed say they are using code from external sources. A large number of these organizations have well-established policies for open source use and adoption that take into account license obligations. The combination of proprietary and open source software has created a hybrid software development model that definitely requires careful attention to licensing - but can be managed. Developers and their organizations should have a clear understanding of what's inside their software components, no matter how seemingly insignificant, in order to avoid legal, financial and business ramifications. Open source code analysis is not about policing developers or prohibiting use, it provides a clear, concise and efficient way to track open source use and license restrictions- a necessity of doing business in a world in which software development is an open field. -Peter Vescuso, Black Duck Software While the appeals court decision is certainly an important move for software creators, and one that organizations should review carefully, it should not scare people from using open source within development. More and more companies that are using open source code are doing so in the right way, so that licensing and other obligations are met. Black Duck sees the court decision as more of a wake up call to software development organizations without a proper open source use policy in place, rather than an industry-shifting milestone.

Open source is becoming an increasingly important and strategic component of today’s software development process – enabling faster and more cost effective product evolution. Underscoring its importance, Gartner recently found that 47% of the companies surveyed say they are using code from external sources. A large number of these organizations have well-established policies for open source use and adoption that take into account license obligations. The combination of proprietary and open source software has created a hybrid software development model that definitely requires careful attention to licensing – but can be managed.

Developers and their organizations should have a clear understanding of what’s inside their software components, no matter how seemingly insignificant, in order to avoid legal, financial and business ramifications. Open source code analysis is not about policing developers or prohibiting use, it provides a clear, concise and efficient way to track open source use and license restrictions- a necessity of doing business in a world in which software development is an open field.
-Peter Vescuso, Black Duck Software

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