Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and other Alternative License Models

Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and other Alternative License Models PDF Author: Axel Metzger
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319215604
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 505

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book discusses the main legal questions raised by free and open source software (FOSS) licenses and other alternative license models, such as Creative Commons. The legal questions raised by FOSS and other alternative licenses have been the subject of an intense international debate among legal scholars and practising lawyers in the last years. Courts in different jurisdictions have confirmed that the core features of FOSS licenses are compliant with the respective applicable laws and thus enforceable in the respective jurisdictions. What is still missing so far is an in-depth comparative analysis of the legal issues raised by FOSS, Creative Commons and other alternative license on a worldwide scale. This book presents a general report on FOSS licenses and alternative license models to establish common ground and enable comparison between jurisdictions. The general report is followed by 24 national reports covering the world's most important IT-markets. General and national reports use the same structure to facilitate the comparison. The book shows that despite the differences in their origins, all FOSS projects use detailed licenses for the organisation of their communities. It also shows the differences in the proofing of these licenses by courts in some jurisdictions and the tailor-made provisions established by some legislators to solve the legal issues raised by the license model.

General Reports of the XIXth Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law Rapports Généraux du XIXème Congrès de l'Académie Internationale de Droit Comparé

General Reports of the XIXth Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law Rapports Généraux du XIXème Congrès de l'Académie Internationale de Droit Comparé PDF Author: Martin Schauer
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 940241066X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 623

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book deals with convergences of legal doctrine despite jurisdictional, cultural, and political barriers, and of divergences due to such barriers, examining topics that are of vital importance to contemporary legal scholars. Written by leading scholars from more than twenty countries, its thirty-two chapters present a comparative analysis of cutting-edge legal topics of the 21st century. While each of the countries covered stands alone as a sovereign state, in a technologically advanced world their disparate systems nonetheless show comparable strategies in dealing with complex legal issues. The book is a critical addition to the library of any scholar hoping to keep abreast of the major trends in contemporary law. It covers a vast area of topics that are dealt with from a comparative point of view and represents the current state of law in each area. ​

Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing

Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing PDF Author: Andrew M. St. Laurent
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 0596005814
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
The book wraps up with a look at the legal effects--both positive and negative--of open source/free software licensing.

Best Practices for commercial use of open source software

Best Practices for commercial use of open source software PDF Author: Karl Michael Popp
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
ISBN: 3750403090
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 126

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book enables you to leverage the state-of-the-art of creating open source based business models and of managing open source in the development cycle of commercial software and during due diligence in mergers and acquisitions. In addition, it provides information about why investments in open source makes sense. Practitioners, investors and consultants created this book to help professionals in the software business like investors, executives, business developers, product managers, architects, developers, quality managers, development operations managers as well as students to get acquainted and proficient in using open source products in a commercial context. First, the focus is on business model impact of open source products and open source licenses. Dr. Karl Michael Popp gives an overview of the different types of business models for open source companies. Dr. Josef Waltl shows how open source licenses and intellectual property strategies can create a unique business model based on a combination of open source and proprietary software. Then, the focus is on detection and license compliance aspects of open source software in mergers and acquisitions. The acquisition of a software vendor requires the review of intellectual property rights including open source license compliance as described by Dr. Karl Michael Popp. The following new chapter, authored by Joseph Jacks from OSS Capital, provides fundamentals of the open source business by elaborating on value creation and value capture for commercial open source companies. Then, two chapters cover the offerings of tool vendors for governance of open source software but also for development enablement. First, Bill Weinberg and Greg Olsen show the broad offering of solutions of Black Duck Software, a provider for open source governance and enablement tools. The next, new chapter, provided by Snyk, focuses on development aspects of using open source software as part of commercial products like assistance for developers in selection and in continuously updating open source components during the software development lifecycle.

Free and Open Source Software

Free and Open Source Software PDF Author: Nishant Pal
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 28

Get Book Here

Book Description
FOSS (free and open-source) software can be classified as free and open-source software. This means that anyone can freely copy, study, modify, and alter the software in any way. The source code is also openly shared to encourage people to improve the software's design. This contrasts with proprietary software which is subject to restrictive copyright licensing, and where the source code is often hidden from users. FOSS preserves software users' civil liberty rights (see below, the Four Essential Freedoms). FOSS also offers many benefits, including lower software costs, greater security and stability (especially with regard to malware), protection of privacy, education and more control over hardware. Open-source and free operating systems like Linux and the descendants of BSD are used widely today to power millions of computers, smartphones, tablets, and other devices. Many software packages use open-source and free-software licenses. Many software packages use open-source and free-software licenses. The online social movements behind widespread production of FOSS are the free-software movement (or FLOSS) and the open-source movement (or free/libre). OVERVIEW OF FOSS FOSS (free and open-source) refers to software that can be considered free and open-source. FOSS (free-and open-source software), allows users to inspect the source code. It also provides greater control over the software's functions than proprietary software. The term "free software", however, does not refer only to the cost of the software. It also refers to whether the license protects civil liberties (free as in free speech and not like "free beer") There are many related terms and abbreviations to free and open source software (FOSS and F/OSS), free/libre, and open-source (FLOSS and F/LOSS) that FSF prefers over FOSS. Free or free/libre is their preferred term.

Music Borrowing and Copyright Law

Music Borrowing and Copyright Law PDF Author: Enrico Bonadio
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509949402
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 485

Get Book Here

Book Description
This ground-breaking book examines the multifaceted dynamics between copyright law and music borrowing within a rich diversity of music genres from across the world. It evaluates how copyright laws under different generic conventions may influence, or are influenced by, time-honoured creative borrowing practices. Leading experts from around the world scrutinise a carefully selected range of musical genres, including pop, hip-hop, jazz, blues, electronic and dance music, as well as a diversity of region-specific genres, such as Jamaican music, River Plate Tango, Irish folk music, Hungarian folk music, Flamenco, Indian traditional music, Australian indigenous music, Maori music and many others. This genre-conscious analysis builds on a theoretical section in which musicologists and lawyers offer their insights into fundamental issues concerning music genre categorisation, the typology of music borrowing and copyright law's ontological struggle with musical borrowing in theory and practice. The chapters are threaded together by a central theme, ie, that the cumulative nature of music creativity is the result of collective bargaining processes among many 'musicking' parties that have socially constructed creative music authorship under a rich mix of generic conventions.

Open Source Approaches in Spatial Data Handling

Open Source Approaches in Spatial Data Handling PDF Author: Brent Hall
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3540748318
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Get Book Here

Book Description
The role open-source geospatial software plays in data handling within the spatial information technology industry is the overarching theme of the book. It also examines new tools and applications for those already using OS approaches to software development.

Digitization, Copyright and the Law

Digitization, Copyright and the Law PDF Author: Ettore M. Lombardi
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1040132995
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 425

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book discusses copyleft and its impact on the traditional way to conceive of property. It is specifically focused on the European and international juridical framework. Analysing the impact of digitalization on copyright and the potential effect of copyleft in the European market and within a European and international juridical framework, this book explores the complex evolutionary framework which charts the reduction of physical property and the progressive expansion of intangible assets. Although digitalization enables more accessibility than ever before, this impacts traditional intellectual property frameworks. Evaluating common traits of ownership structure, the book considers the challenges that intangible property, open source and creative commons present to the current legal system. Examining the impact of copyleft on copyright and the law of ownership, the book considers the rights of authors and creators, legal limits and complications arising from these new forms of ownership of intangible assets. The book is grounded in the European potential regulatory framework of copyleft through movements like open-source software. The book will be of interest to students, academics and practitioners with an interest in contract law, property law and intellectual property law.

The Cathedral & the Bazaar

The Cathedral & the Bazaar PDF Author: Eric S. Raymond
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 059655396X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 260

Get Book Here

Book Description
Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years. This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel.The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book. Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. According to Bob Young, "This is Eric Raymond's great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success of open source users and the companies that supply them."The interest in open source software development has grown enormously in the past year. This revised and expanded paperback edition includes new material on open source developments in 1999 and 2000. Raymond's clear and effective writing style accurately describing the benefits of open source software has been key to its success. With major vendors creating acceptance for open source within companies, independent vendors will become the open source story in 2001.

Free and Open Source Software for Development

Free and Open Source Software for Development PDF Author: Victor Van Reijswoud
Publisher: Polimetrica s.a.s.
ISBN: 887699131X
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 117

Get Book Here

Book Description