Free and Open Source Software
"Catching a fly ball is a pleasure, but knowing what to do with it after you catch it is a business." Tommy Henrich, NY Yankees outfielder from 1937-1950
Downloading Linux from the internet is like catching a flyball: a pleasure. But knowing what to do with it afterward, especially in light of the complex licensing and legal landscape, is a thornier issue.
This is precisely where WS Law Offices can help.
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is perhaps the most important and influential segment of the software market. And more specifically, Linux® is by far the fastest growing computer operating system in the world.
But what is FOSS, and how do you deal with it from legal and business standpoints?
FOSS is not a law, and it’s not a “kind” of software. It's a licensing model. Open source software can sometimes be downloaded at no charge from publicly accessible websites. Though commercial software developers often decide that it makes more sense – based on time to market, legal protections, support issues, and ultimately total cost of ownership – to buy open source software from vendor. But whether you buy it or download it at no cost, free/open source software remains protected by copyright law, and remains subject to legally enforceable license agreements.
WS Law Offices founder Jason Wacha has been deeply involved with free/open source software since 2001, and is known worldwide as one of the field’s leading legal experts.
FOSS is not just about the GPL (though that license is certainly the most widely discussed). FOSS has a multilayered, nuanced licensing scheme. And WS Law Offices can help you to understand the legal “ballpark” in which you’re playing.
Whether you’re concerned with specific licenses (including GPLv3), what constitutes a derivative work, current lawsuits or other legal issues, we are there to guide you.
And we can get “techie” with you, too: we’ve savvy enough to understand the nuances and risks of FOSS analysis at the package level vs. the program level; of user-space vs. kernel space; of static vs. dynamic linking; of linking vs. loading; of issues surrounding DLKMs (dynamically loadable kernel modules), and more.
Not only that, but at WS Law Offices, we understand the FOSS “community”, too. While “pure” legal analysis is important, it tells only half of the story. If you don’t do that analysis in the context of opinions and best practices in the FOSS community, then you cannot really be effective. At WS Law Offices, we know who the “community” is and how it has changed over time. And we understand its character, moods and movement.
There are lots of “licensing” lawyers out there. There are far fewer who can truly call themselves open source experts. And there may be only a handful of those who have been directly responsible for addressing those challenges both as outside counsel and as in-house General Counsel charged not only with resolving the legal issues, but with monitoring and monetizing the benefits of FOSS.
WS Law Offices can help you with the business of open source.
This is precisely where WS Law Offices can help.
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) is perhaps the most important and influential segment of the software market. And more specifically, Linux® is by far the fastest growing computer operating system in the world.
But what is FOSS, and how do you deal with it from legal and business standpoints?
FOSS is not a law, and it’s not a “kind” of software. It's a licensing model. Open source software can sometimes be downloaded at no charge from publicly accessible websites. Though commercial software developers often decide that it makes more sense – based on time to market, legal protections, support issues, and ultimately total cost of ownership – to buy open source software from vendor. But whether you buy it or download it at no cost, free/open source software remains protected by copyright law, and remains subject to legally enforceable license agreements.
WS Law Offices founder Jason Wacha has been deeply involved with free/open source software since 2001, and is known worldwide as one of the field’s leading legal experts.
FOSS is not just about the GPL (though that license is certainly the most widely discussed). FOSS has a multilayered, nuanced licensing scheme. And WS Law Offices can help you to understand the legal “ballpark” in which you’re playing.
Whether you’re concerned with specific licenses (including GPLv3), what constitutes a derivative work, current lawsuits or other legal issues, we are there to guide you.
And we can get “techie” with you, too: we’ve savvy enough to understand the nuances and risks of FOSS analysis at the package level vs. the program level; of user-space vs. kernel space; of static vs. dynamic linking; of linking vs. loading; of issues surrounding DLKMs (dynamically loadable kernel modules), and more.
Not only that, but at WS Law Offices, we understand the FOSS “community”, too. While “pure” legal analysis is important, it tells only half of the story. If you don’t do that analysis in the context of opinions and best practices in the FOSS community, then you cannot really be effective. At WS Law Offices, we know who the “community” is and how it has changed over time. And we understand its character, moods and movement.
There are lots of “licensing” lawyers out there. There are far fewer who can truly call themselves open source experts. And there may be only a handful of those who have been directly responsible for addressing those challenges both as outside counsel and as in-house General Counsel charged not only with resolving the legal issues, but with monitoring and monetizing the benefits of FOSS.
WS Law Offices can help you with the business of open source.