Open Source 201

Luis Villa — http://lu.is

Director and Chair of the Licensing Committee — Open Source Initiative

Deputy General Counsel — Wikimedia Foundation

(0)

Introducing OSI

OSI, historically

OSI, going forward

(1)

What is an Open Source license?

Complies with the Open Source Definition

Grants permissions

• operation
• modification
• redistribution

(2)

Key Licenses

Permissive family

• Apache
• BSD
• MIT

Mild copylefts

• Eclipse Public License
• Mozilla Public License
• LGPL

GPL family

• General Public License (GPL)
• Affero GPL (AGPL)

Other Licenses

NASA “Open Source Agreement”

“Public Domain”

Other Licenses

(3)

Developing and Deploying Software

Ideal World Dev and Deploy?

• Use packaged software
• Use automated tools

Real World Dev and Deploy?

• Train employees
• Require contractor disclosure

(4)

Making Software Public

Check Ownership

Publish with Purpose

• Consider audience
• Consider tooling
• No magic here

(5)

Risks: Myths and Realities

Myth: Compliance is Difficult

Reality: Compliance is (Usually) Straightforward

Myth: Patents are a Big Risk

Reality: Patents are Same as Other Software

Reality: Non-Legal Risks Often Dominate

Reality: Slight Increase in Enforcement

Other Opens?

Open Data

• Creative Commons
• Open Database License
• Public Access Rules for Research

Open Standards

Further Reading

For Lawyers

• Heather Meeker, “The Open Source Alternative”
• Larry Rosen, “Open Source Licensing”

For Non-Lawyers

• Karl Fogel, “Producing Open Source Software”
• Van Lindberg, “Intellectual Property and Open Source”

Questions?

Questions later: luis@lu.is

Slides later: lu.is/talk/OSI-2013