Passport Without A Visa: Open Source Software Licensing and Trademarks

March 2009Open Source IT

Abstract

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 200 million consumers use open source software products and thousands of enterprises use open source code. The best known open source brand is still probably the Linux operating system, but as open source projects and companies proliferate, the importance of brands to differentiate these offerings is on the rise. Trademarks, the legal rights that form the foundation for brand identity, will necessarily play a larger role in the open source world.

Subscribe to reador

Related Papers

Revisiting Open Source

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...Read more

Deborah Miller

Sr Corporate Counsel (CAPs), Oracle Corporation, USA

Matthew Sarboraria

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

Dorian Daley

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

Ruchika Agrawal

Senior Corporate Counsel, Oracle Corporation, USA

Fixing the Legal-Procurement Disconnect to Speed Up Contract Review

It’s a familiar scenario: a critical vendor deal lands in procurement’s lap. Commercial terms need to be negotiated, and it heads off to legal. Six weeks pass. The business is...Read more