Insurance for Linux

Interview with Daniel Egger of Open Source Risk Management

When a start-up firm called OSRM (Open Source Risk Management) announced two months ago that it planned to offer standard product liability insurance to Linux users and developers, many in the Linux community wondered why. For some, such coverage appeared to be an unwarranted admission that there was something wrong with Linux. Sure, vendor specific indemnification of users was appearing, but IBM itself, the first target for SCO's absurd legal claims, denied the need. As recently as the last LinuxWorld Conference and Expo, IBM's Jim Stallings, general manager for Linux at Big Blue, was quoted as saying, "The claims that have been alleged [by SCO] against IBM [have] no basis, so indemnification is not needed." NewsForge recently interviewed OSRM's founder and CEO, Daniel Egger, to gain his perspective on the issue.

via NewsForge

Free Software and the Innovator's Dilemma

If you wanted to assemble a 'must read' list for any business person looking at the Linux/Free Software industry, what would you include? Certainly 'Open Sources' from O'Reilly, is the most obvious answer, probably followed by Bob Young's 'Under the Radar,' which details the story of Red Hat's rise.
But I would argue that a third book belong in the top tier of that list as well: 'The Innovator's Dilemma,' written by Clayton Christensen and published by Harvard Business School Press.

via OS Opinion

GPL and Viral Infection Commentary

The GPL contains 'constraints against constraints.' For example, section two of the GPL allows for modifications and distribution of a GPL-licensed work if the licensee causes any work to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of the GPL. This is often problematic for companies that need to distribute their products using a license that is not consistent with the GPL.

via Linux News

A Model for Open Source Software Development

A pediatric oncologist argues that a working model for open source already exists in at least one other field, biomedical research, and that this model has been proven to be of great benefit to society.
via NewsForge

GROKLAW announces grokline.net:

I am happy to tell you that we have Grokline 0.1, so to speak, up at www.grokline.net. We are ready for you to start to help by contributing what you know about UNIX to our UNIX ownership living history project.

We hope with this Grokline project to be able to identify any conceivable legal issues that those wishing to block, slow, hobble or tax GNU/Linux may try to use in future legal assaults on the community. If there are litigation risks, even just from nuisance lawsuits, particularly with respect to patents, we want to find those risks, hopefully before they do, and mitigate or resolve them now. I am personally convinced, as you no doubt are too, that the next wave of attacks on GNU/Linux and the GPL will involve patents.

Ex Ante Versus Ex Post Justifications for Intellectual Property by Mark Lemley (UC Berkeley Public Law Research Paper No. 144): "In this paper, I explore the sub rosa development of this ex post theory of IP. I argue that the basis for continued control is the assumption that the value of IP rights will be dissipated if they are used too much. This argument is fundamentally at odds with the public goods nature of information. It stems from a particular sort of myopia about private ordering, in which actions by individual private firms are presumed to be ideal and the traditional role of the market in disciplining errant firms is ignored. "

More than 30 articles on the CAN-SPAM Act have now been added to GigaLaw.com's CAN-SPAM Library at http://www.CANSPAMLibrary.com (click on "Articles"). The list includes law review, law journal and law firm articles, ranging from 2 to 38 pages.

CA Moves with New Open-Source Licensing for Content, Database Projects

IBM asks for quick rejection of SCO claims | CNET News.com: "In a motion for summary judgment filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City, IBM argues that SCO has produced no evidence to back up its copyright claims and is unlikely to do so. As a result, IBM states, the copyright claims should be dumped from the case. "

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Linux switch is becoming easier option: "These days, a reasonably astute computer user can have a fully functional Linux system, capable of handling typical home-computing needs, up and running in an afternoon or less. It's even possible to buy a competitively priced PC with Linux pre-installed. "

SCO's subpoena for documents to Free Software Foundation. FSF objects as overbroad and invading atty-client privilege.

Open-source companies see profit aplenty | CNET News.com: "SAN FRANCISCO--It's easy to make money giving away software--just don't give away too much of it.
That was the upshot from a group of open-source software executives at the Software and Information Industry Association's Enterprise Software Summit, with panelists saying there's plenty of room for profit in Linux and its siblings. "

EU votes through software patent changes - ZDNet UK News: "The European Council on Wednesday voted through controversial changes to the European Union's Software Patents Directive that will pave the way for widespread patenting of software in Europe."

Geico sues Google, Overture over trademarks | CNET News.com: "Auto insurance company Geico has sued Google and Overture Services for allegedly violating its trademarks in search-related advertisements, in the latest legal salvo against the Internet companies. "

ESPN Scraping for Minor League Scores? "LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sports score Web operator Sportsnetwork.com sued Walt Disney Co's ESPN on Monday, claiming its bigger competitor was stealing minor league baseball scores for its own site and refused to stop. "

American Airlines scraping case from a year ago. The Trademark Blog

IT Manager's Journal | Seven open source business strategies for competitive advantage

Copyright's Communications Policy. By Timothy Wu, UVa Law School professor.

Linux News: Commentary: Practical Open Source Corporate Policies: "Legal liability around the use of open source is a complex issue, where interpretations and rules are constantly shifting. That's why some legal advisors recommend not using open-source software at all. Others recommend that organizations limit the use of software to that which has no downstream constraints. "