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Book Review: Intellectual Property and Open Source

Book Review: Intellectual Property and Open Source, by Van Lindberg. Published by O'Reilly Media, 2008. ISBN 978-0-596-51796-0.

For most people, the most important part of a software license is the end. That's because they're totally uninterested in the license itself; they are merely interested in scrolling past it, so that they can click on "OK" and install the software that they are running. For users of open-source software, however, licenses should be  extremely important, because they determine what you may and may not do with a particular program. Open-source developers have long debated the merits of the GNU General Public License vs. the BSD License. As open-source software becomes mainstream, and is integrated into larger systems, these age-old arguments are less theoretical than ever, and should be understood not only by developers, but also by managers and executives of organizations working with open source. Van Lindberg's new book is an excellent place to start.

Lindberg's book is divided into roughly three sections: The first describes intellectual property law, particularly as it is practiced and understood in the United States. These chapters form the foundation for the rest of the book, since without a good understanding of the differences between patents, trademarks, and copyright, it is impossible to discuss the issues relating to open source. In every part of this discussion, Lindberg is extremely practical. For example, in his chapter about patents, he notes that patent lawsuits can take a very long time to be resolved -- knocking the air out of the idea that an inventor can patent something, and then successfully (or easily) sue anyone who violates that patent.

The second section of the book is where things get particularly interesting, as well as relevant for the open-source community. Lindberg describes a variety of ways in which open-source licenses affect developers and companies. He begins by talking about software licenses in general, and uses a particularly interesting analogy between credit unions and open-source projects (as opposed to proprietary software, which he sees as analogous to banks). He also gets into issues that aren't quite related to open source, such as employee intellectual-property agreements -- although it is probably safe to say that many open-source developers have signed such agreements, and are bound by their conditions.

Finally, Lindberg describes a number of open-source licenses, detailing their various advantages and disadvantages from not only a code-sharing perspective, but also a legal one. I was particularly surprised to find that Lindberg believes the GNU General Public License (GPL), one of the most popular licenses used, and whose later versions were written and edited by intellectual property experts, to be vague and problematic, if and when it should be tested in court. By contrast, Lindberg warmly recommends the Mozilla Public License (MPL), as an example of a license that is both fair to business and to the open-source community.

This section about open-source licensing contains a plea from Lindberg that has been heard numerous times throughout the open-source world: Please don't create any new open-source licenses. One of the several-dozen OSI-approved licenses is almost certainly good enough for your purposes. He describes some of the legal loopholes and problems associated with Perl's Artistic License, and uses that as a cautionary tale for any programmer who thinks that writing a new license is preferable to using an existing one.

The book concludes with with a number of appendices, each containing the text of a popular open-source license agreement. The text of these licenses is obviously available on the Internet, and I find it easier to read online. However, managers

This book is the first one that I have read which addresses the legal issues associated with open source, as opposed to the community and software issues. In that sense, this is not only a pioneering book, but also one that is important reading for non-technical managers who know that open-source software reduces costs, but aren't aware of the licensing restrictions that might be associated with using these programs. Just today, I met with a potential client who was unaware of these issues, and who was reticent to use a particular package licensed under the GNU Affero General Public License. Such confusion is not uncommon, and will become increasingly widespread as open source continues to make inroads. Lindberg's book will go a along way toward resolving these issues, or at least making companies aware of the implications of their use of open source.

• gpl
• bsd
• mpl
• licensing
• book review
• legal open source
• intellectual property

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