Revisiting Open Source

January 2018

Abstract

Not so long ago, software industry leaders and academics debated the viability of open source and related business models. While open source debates and criticisms have evolved, much confusion remains about what open source means. Some assume that open source means free to take, use, modify, and distribute without being subject to some set of terms and conditions. That is false. Open source software, like commercial software, is distributed subject to a license, unless the code author(s) choose to dedicate their software to the public domain. Numerous open source licenses exist with varying degrees of conditions and obligations. Whether you are a developer contributing to an open source project or a business considering the use of some particular open source code in your product, you should read and understand the governing open source license to assess its impact on your code and business. To reduce confusion around open source, this paper will revisit what open source is, provide an overview of open source licenses, look at some recent cases, and examine the benefits and risks of using open source in software development.

Authors

Dorian Daley

Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Oracle, USA

Dorian Daley serves as executive vice president, general counsel, and secretary of Oracle Corporation. She began her career at Oracle in 1992 after spending five years with the commercial litigation group of Landels, Ripley & Diamond in San Francisco. She is a 1986 graduate of the Santa Clara University School of Law and a 1981 graduate of Stanford University. Prior to her appointment as general counsel, Daley was a vice president and associate general counsel for Oracle.

Matthew Sarboraria

Real Estate Services, Legal Services and General Counsel, Oracle Corporation, USA

Matthew Sarboraria is a Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Oracle Corporation, where he has headed the Patent, Trademark and Copyright group since 2012. He and his team are responsible for developing and implementing strategies and policies for identifying, protecting, and managing the company’s intellectual property. Before joining Oracle in 2006, he was in private practice at Weil, Gotshal & Manages LLP where he focused on IP litigation. He received his J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley in 2000 and his undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in 1994.

Deborah Miller

Sr Corporate Counsel (CAPs), Oracle Corporation, USA

Deborah K. Miller is a Vice President and Associate General Counsel of Oracle Corporation, where she has headed the litigation group since 2007. In that role, she manages IP, securities, and commercial litigation and pre-litigation matters. Before joining Oracle in 2004, she was a partner in the San Francisco law firm of Barg Coffin Lewis & Trapp, and previously was a partner at Landels, Ripley & Diamond. She received her J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law at UC Berkeley in 1980 and her undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in 1973.

Companies

Oracle

With more than 420,000 customers and deployments in more than 145 countries, Oracle offers a comprehensive and fully integrated stack of cloud applications, platform services, and engineered systems” to “With 430,000 customers in 175 countries, Oracle provides leading-edge capabilities in software as a service, platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and data as a service.

Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation provides leading-edge capabilities in software as a service, platform as a service, infrastructure as a service, and data as a service, with 430,000 customers in 175 countries. See https://www.oracle.com/corporate for more information.

Oracle Corporation

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General Counsel, Mozilla, USA

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Divya Kumat

Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer & Company Secretary, Datamatics Global Services Limited, India

Puru Rohatgi

Legal & Secretarial Project Trainee, Datamatics Global Services Limited, India

Revisiting Open Source

Abstract

Authors

Companies

Oracle

Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation

Oracle Corporation

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