AttorneysEd Center

One thing is clear in the current economy: Open source software adoption will happen within your organization or your client’s company (if it hasn’t already). Whether by mandate or necessity, companies of all types continue to deploy open source in increasingly vital roles, many of which traditionally have been handled by proprietary-licensed software. In this environment, companies can ill-afford to allow legal issues to hinder their ability to access and use open source software. Join Jason Haislmaier, a partner at Holme Roberts & Owen LLP, as he discusses the fast-evolving open source legal landscape and provides you with what you need to know to stay on top of the legal issues posed by these changes. Topics include: - The "BusyBox" lawsuits – While the first lawsuits filed in the U.S. seeking to enforce the GNU General Public License (GPL) have been settled, what lessons should you learn from these cases to help you reduce your exposure to future litigation threats? - Free Software Foundation v. Cisco Systems – The FSF’s lawsuit against Cisco represented a major a break in the FSF’s longstanding tradition of resolving open source license compliance disputes outside of the courts. What does this change in strategy mean for your or your client’s organization? - Jacobsen v. Katzer – The first case confirming the validity and enforceability of open source software licenses in the U.S. continues to generate valuable legal precedent for those involved with open source software. - The “TomTom” case – In the latest round of patent enforcement against open source software, Microsoft boldly asserted its patents against GPS device manufacturer (and Linux user) TomTom. What does the case (and the settlement) indicate about Microsoft’s intentions in this area and about patents and open source in general?