Open Source Licenses: Copyright and Trademark Compliance

Minimizing Risk of IP Infringement in Software Licensing

Recording of a 90-minute premium CLE webinar with Q&A

Conducted on Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Recorded event now available

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Course Materials

This CLE course will prepare licensors and licensees of open source software to understand and cope with the legal risks of open source creation and use. The panel will provide best practices to minimize intellectual property infringement through effective licensing agreements and monitoring of open source compliance.

Description

Using open source software offers a number of benefits but also serious risks, including potential liability for intellectual property infringement. Companies creating and reusing open source software are subject to complicated legal challenges to their software licenses.

Moreover, since the Federal Circuit's decision in Jacobsen v. Katzer, it's clear that open source software creators can sue users that fail to comply with the licensing terms for infringement, whether or not the user paid for such use.

Counsel and copyright owners must carefully draft license agreements and monitor compliance. To avoid possible charges of copyright infringement, licensees and their counsel should manage and account for their open source use to ensure they adhere to the obligations and restrictions of the license.

Listen as our authoritative panel of IP attorneys examines the types of licenses and the legal risks associated with such licenses, open source compliance and offers best practices for open source licensing going forward.

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Outline

  1. Open source licenses
    1. Background
    2. Type of licenses
    3. Legal risks
    4. Enforcement actions
  2. Compliance
    1. Complying with tenets of open source licensing
    2. Controlling use of trademarks
    3. Negotiating license provisions
  3. Common open source problems and best practices to address them

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

  • What are the legal risks facing companies creating, using and licensing open source software?
  • What provisions should be included in an open source license to protect against infringement?
  • What are the best practices for licensees to ensure compliance with open source license agreements?

Faculty

Kenneth K. Dort
Kenneth K. Dort
Partner
McGuireWoods

He focuses on information technology and intellectual property law issues, including software development and...  |  Read More

Stephen D. Gillespie
Stephen D. Gillespie
Partner
Fenwick & West

He provides strategic and legal advice to software, new media and technology companies. He helps structure, draft and...  |  Read More

Paul H. Arne
Paul H. Arne
Partner
Morris Manning & Martin

Mr. Arne represents technology companies and large end users, with a particular emphasis on complex, outsourcing...  |  Read More

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