1
Alternative
Software
Licensing
MVV59K Software Law
Mgr. Matěj Myška
2 Mgr. Matěj Myška
› Institute of Law and Technology
› Assistant
› Office hours:
Mon 10:00 – 11:30 a.m.
› Contact:
› Room no. s61,
› Tel. 54949 4751
› matej.myska@law.muni.cz
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3 PROMO
MVV59K Software Law, Fall 2010
REGISTRATION
ENDS ON
10th November
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MOTTO
“…open source licensing has
become a widely used method of
creative collaboration that
serves to advance the arts and
sciences in a manner and at a
pace that few could have imagined
just a few decades ago.”
Jacobsen v. Katzer, 535 F.3d 1373, 1378 (Fed. Cir. 2008).
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5 Outline
› What is NOT F/OSS?
› What is F/OSS?
› Historical development
› Idea of F/OSS
› Key
› Legal Aspects of F/OSS
› Case studies
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› Proprietary Software
› Shareware
› Freeware
› Abandonware
› Public Domain Software
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7 Proprietary Soft
› “Traditional”
› Non-free
› Closed source code
› Licensing (Lecture on 24th November)
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8 Shareware
› Proprietary software
› Business model
› Trialware, demoware, added
functionality (levels)
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9 Freeware
› “Fully” copyrighted
› i.e. no modification, redistribution
possible
› Available for use at no cost or for
an optional fee
› No disclosure of source code
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10 Public Domain Soft
› Disclaimed copyright
› Not possible under Berne Convention
› Quasi public domain Software
› After 70y – Free work
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11 Abandonware
› Copyrighted software
› Copyright infringement (!)
› No enforcement
› www.abandonia.com
› "When we become aware of these
instances of piracy, we go to these
sites and pursue our IP (intellectual
property) rights," "It's not something
we go after on a day-to-day basis, but
if it's our IP, then it's our IP."
Nancy Bushkin, (former) Infogrames
vice president of corporate communications
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12 History I
› 1983: AT&T develops proprietary
version of Unix
› 1983: Richard Stallman – GNU Project
› 1985: Free Software Foundation
"GNU's Not Unix!"
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13 History II
› 1985: founding of the Free Software
Foundation (FSF) www.fsf.org
› 1989: first version of GNU General
Public License (GPL)
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14 Free Software
› “Free as in free
speech, not free
as in free beer”
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15 The Idea of FS
4 essential freedoms:youtube.com/watch?v=uJi2rkHiNqg
› run the program, for any
purpose,
› study how the program works
(through access to the source
code) and change it at will,
› copy and share the program with
others
› share modifications with others
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16 History III
› 1993: Linus Torvalds
› Linux kernel > GPL
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17 History IV
› 1997/1998: Eric S. Raymond: „The
Cathedral and the Bazaar“
› Open Source Initiative
› www.opensource.org
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18 Idea of OSS
› Business oriented
› No ethical call
› System of software development
› Cathedral
• "carefully crafted by individual wizards
or small bands of mages working in
splendid isolation"
› Bazaar
• "a great babbling bazaar of differing
agendas and approaches."
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19 The OSS Definition
1. Free Redistribution
2. Source Code
3. Derived Works
4. Integrity of The Author's Source Code
5. No Discrimination Against Persons or
Groups
6. No Discrimination Against Fields of
Endeavor
7. Distribution of License
8. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product
9. License Must Not Restrict Other Software
10.License Must Be Technology-Neutral
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20 Revenue streams
› Packaging and distribution
› Offering a commercial alternative
› Multi-licencing
› Services and support
http://www.oss-watch.ac.uk/resources/businessofopensource.xml#ixzz14BPgWpyV
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21 Legal Aspects
› Copyright
› Licences
› Copyleft effect / Share-alike
› Various types of licences
› opensource.org/licenses/alphabetical
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22 Copyleft Effect
› GNU GPL v2.0
› “Art. 2 b) You must cause any work
that you distribute or publish, that
in whole or in part contains or is
derived from the Program or any part
thereof, to be licensed as a whole
at no charge to all third parties
under the terms of this License.”
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23 Legal typology
› Strongly protective licences
› “viral licences”
› GNU General Public License
› Weakly protective licences
› Lesser General Public License (LGPL)
› Permissive licences
› Author’s crediting
› BSD License, MIT License
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24 Legal Issues
› Enforceability
› Technical Protection Measures (DRM)
› Multi-licencing
› Liability and Warranty Disclaimers
› Copyright / Droit d’auteur
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25 Future of FOSS
› The Story of Success
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26 Open Content
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› Arts – Creative Commons
› Lecture (Czech)
› Právo ICT I – Wed 16.40 – 18.10
› 24. 11. (in 3 weeks;)
› Science – Open Access
› Open Access Workshop
› Revue právo a technologie
MVV59K Software Law, Fall 2010
Thank you for your attention!
matej.myska@law.muni.cz