Open Source Software Law

This unique and comprehensive resource provides you with a broad introduction to the area of software licensing in the information age. The book helps you to understand the basic philosophy and key issues of open source software development and offers expert guidance on how to draft an open source license. Drawing on the author’s legal and technical background, this invaluable reference explains the legal framework that has been developed to support the increasingly popular internet-based open source and free software community.

OpenSource Software Law and Policy exploresthe formal and legal aspects of two revolutionary views of software developmentand distribution: that software should be offered to users with open access tothe source code and that end-users should be freely able to modify, copy orredistribute the software they have legally acquired. Moreover, the bookexamines an innovative legal response to the conflict between copyright law anddigital technology, and includes an analysis of the legal regime that anincreasing number of software developers have come to prefer when developingand distributing software online.

CD-ROM Included! This convenient, fully searchable disc providesinstant access to helpful license templates and important sections of laws.

Contents:

Preface - Conventions Used inThis Book. Acknowledgements.

Open Source Software - SoftwarePatents. The Goals of Open Source. The Open Source Definition (OSD).

Free Software and the GNUGPL - Licensing to Meet Philosophical Objections. Copyright and Copyleft. CodeForking. What is Free Software? What is Free About Open Source and FreeSoftware? The GPL. The GNU Lesser GPL.

Drafting Open SourceLicenses - The BSD License. Restricting Commercial Uses. The Aladdin Free PublicLicense (AFPL). The Artistic License. Commercial Uses.

About Protecting Property.

Electronic ContractFormation - Electronic Transactions. E-SIGN. UETA. UCITA. Warranties and "ASIS" Licensing. Limitations on Liability. Choice of Law Provisions.

Commercial Models and OpenSource - Open Commercial Uses. The Open Software License (OSL). DocumentationLicenses.

Rolling Your Own Open SourceLicense - Selecting a License Template. The Potential Size of The Open SourceCommunity.

Appendix - SignificantProvisions of UCITA. Selected Provisions From UETA (1999). Selected Provisionsof E-SIGN. GNU General Public License. GNU Lesser General Public License. SunCommunity Source License, Version 3.0 (the SCSL). Open IP Core Hardware GeneralPublic License (OHGPL). IBM Public License, Version 1.0. Common Public License,Version 0.5. The BSD License. X Consortium License. Artistic License. MozillaPublic License, Version 1.0. The Q Public License, Version 1.0. The ApplePublic Source License, Version 1.2 (the APSL). The python Copyright License.The Jabber Open Source License, Version 1.0. Amulet, Version 3.0 (CMU). Red HateCos Public License, Version 1.1. Eiffel Forum License, Version 1. LicenseAgreement for Mozart, an Implementation of Oz 3. Lucent Technologies Inc. Plan9 Open Source License Agreement. The LaTeX Project Public License (the LPPL).The Open Software License (the OPL). The GNU Free Documentation License (theGFDL). Fundamentals of Copyright Law: Copyright Infringement for Software, theDigital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and the DMCA Takes Aim at HackersPromoting Open Source.

Rod Dixonis senior attorney-advisor, U.S. Department of Education and visiting assistantprofessor of law, Rutgers University Law School (at Camden). He holds an LL.M.from the Georgetown University Law Center, a J.D. from George WashingtonUniversity Law School, and a M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh.