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Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law
book

Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law

by Lawrence Rosen
July 2004
Intermediate to advanced
432 pages
8h 12m
English
Pearson
Content preview from Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law

The GPL and Patents

Nobody is quite sure what effect software and business method patents will have on open source software. That is because patent problems often arise from unexpected quarters. A person nobody heard of may claim that software infringes his or her patent. Suddenly software embodying that patent cannot be made, used, or sold absent a license from the patent owner—unless, of course, the patent can be designed around and similar functionality accomplished in a different way.

It may thus happen that open source software that was previously free is no longer so. But that conclusion is here just a vague abstraction. Which software and which patent, and what effect on software freedom, is a mystery until it actually happens.

The GPL ...

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Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0131487876Purchase book