The Open Source Alternative: Understanding Risks and Leveraging Opportunities

17th
MAR

Book Description
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. Including useful forms, information, and both technical and licensing background, this book will help you avoid legal pitfalls and edcuate your organization about the risks of open source.

From the Inside Flap
Almost every engineer developing technical products wants to use open source software. It’s free, reliable, and can cut product development cycles. But convincing management to jump on board may be a challenge. Open source can have legal strings attached. How does a company use open source intelligently, without stepping on a lawsuit land mine? Based on the author’s ten years of broad experience in the trenches of intellectual property licensing, The Open Source Alternative is a practical guide for anyone who needs to find out more about the legal intricacies, risks, and rewards of open source.

Written in plain English for both lawyers and professionals, The Open Source Alternative shows you how to implement open source intelligently, without compromising the value of your intellectual property. Coverage includes:

What is open source?
Philosophy of free software
The vocabulary of free software and open source
Common open source licenses and their structure
Due diligence and license housekeeping
Audits and compliance initiatives
Patents and open source
Trademarks and open source
GPL version 2 compliance and the “derivative works” controversy
Developing a corporate open source policy
Enforcement of open source licenses
Open source in acquisition and licensing transactions
GPL version 3.0 update

The Open Source Alternative fills the need for a practical, objective book on the implications of open source in business. Author Heather Meeker provides background on both legal and technical principles, complemented by a wealth of references for follow-up. The book also includes a glossary, index, and a collection of documents and forms to help you in your business.

Open source and proprietary software are likely to coexist for decades to come. The Open Source Alternative will help you better understand the legal principles at work in the heterogeneous software landscape of today.

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