The growth in the use of open source software, and the increasing number (over 50) of different and often incompatible open source licenses has created a greater need to understand and address the legal issues associated with open source software.
Our open source services
- Developing corporate policies and procedures regarding the use of open source software.
- Conducting open source audits.
- Development and implementation of open source risk management procedures.
Software development companies and open source
We advise on:
- The decision whether to use open source code in the development of a software product.
- The decision whether to release software under an open source license, and if so, the best license to use.
- The compatibility of code under different open source licenses and related licensing issues such as warranty and indemnification issues.
- License compliance issues.
- Strategies to avoid tainting proprietary code with open source code.
- Ownership, patent and copyright issues associated with other copyrightable works based on open source software.
For open source software users
We advise regarding whether to use open source software and the associated legal issues, including IP liability issues, indemnification and warranties.
Mergers and acquisitions, and software
In mergers and acquisitions involving software:
- Handling Open Source due diligence issues.
- Advising regarding the appropriate representations and warranties.
- Assessing potential infringement liability issues.