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Informationen zum Autor Heather J. Meeker is a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig, LLP, one of the largest law firms in the United States. Heather has provided open source counseling to clients ranging from technology startups using open source in product development, to public technology companies conducting open source code releases, to venture capitalists assessing new business models in the software industry. She also serves as an adjunct professor at the U.C. Berkeley School of Law, is a member of the American Law Institute, and in 2005, was selected by the Daily Journal as one of the top thirty intellectual property lawyers in California. Klappentext A practical guide to leveraging open source in businessThe law of open source is complex and constantly changing. Some legal issues related to it are thorny and undecided. Those called upon to make decisions about open source have found little information to guide them in traditional legal materials . . . until now. Author Heather Meeker-voted one of the top thirty intellectual property lawyers in California-brings her ten years of extensive involvement in open source legal issues to bear in The Open Source Alternative-a practical resource to help you implement open source intelligently, without compromising the value of your intellectual property or stepping into a potential lawsuit.Written in plain English for both lawyers and professionals, The Open Source Alternative provides an accessible discussion of the different licensing strategies to consider with open source. This invaluable reference tool for CIOs, CFOs, IT managers, auditors, and attorneys, as well as all interested professionals, provides you with the background and tools you need to understand this area of law and develop your own conclusions and best practices. Divided into two parts-leveraging opportunities and understanding risks-the book explores: the rules of the road for use of open source in proprietary products, assessing legal risk of using open source, how to understand and leverage patents and trademarks in the open source landscape, and developing policies for use of open source in your business.Formulating best practices in open source development requires familiarity with a complex set of facts and industry practices, as well as the political, business, and legal principles behind them. The Open Source Alternative is a must-read for any professional who needs to stay on top of this rapidly changing field. Zusammenfassung This book is a user manual for understanding and deployment of open source software licensing in business. Written for lawyers and businesspeople alike, it explains and analyzes open source licensing issues, and gives practical suggestions on how to deal with open source licensing in a business context. Inhaltsverzeichnis Preface ix Part one Leveraging opportunities 1 Chapter 1 Introduction: How UNIX Gave Birth to Linux, and a New Software Paradigm 3 In the Beginning Was the Word, and the Word Was UNIX 3 Along Comes Linux 6 Now, What is Open Source? 7 And This is Just the Beginning 9 Chapter 2 Free Software and Open Source 11 Viruses and Freedoms 11 Philosophy of Free Software 13 Open Source Initiative 18 Mozilla Foundation 18 Linus Torvalds 19 Definitions: Free Software and Open Source 21 What's in a Name? The Viral and the Nonviral 22 Open Source Development Model 25 Chapter 3 Common Open Source Licenses and Their Structure 27 Direct Licensing 29 GPL 29 GPL + Exception (or Special Exception) 39 GPL + FLOSS Exception 40 LGPL 40 Corporate Hereditary Software Licenses 41 Other Hereditary Software Licenses 43 Permissive Licenses 43 Apache 1.0 46 Apache 1.1 46 Apache 2.0 46 Artistic License 46 M...
