This unique and comprehensive resource provides you with a broad introduction to the area of software licensing in the information age. The book helps you to understand the basic philosophy and key issues of open source software development and offers expert guidance on how to draft an open source license. Drawing on the author's legal and technical background, this invaluable reference explains the legal framework that has been developed to support the increasingly popular internet-based open source and free software community. Open Source Software Law and Policy explores the formal and legal aspects of two revolutionary views of software development and distribution: that software should be offered to users with open access to the source code and that end-users should be freely able to modify, copy or redistribute the software they have legally acquired. Moreover, the book examines an innovative legal response to the conflict between copyright law and digital technology, and includes an analysis of the legal regime that an increasing number of software developers have come to prefer when developing and distributing software online.
Preface - Conventions Used in This Book. Acknowledgements.; Open Source Software - Software Patents. The Goals of Open Source. The Open Source Definition (OSD).; Free Software and the GNU GPL - Licensing to Meet Philosophical Objections. Copyright and Copyleft. Code Forking. What is Free Software? What is Free About Open Source and Free Software? The GPL. The GNU Lesser GPL.; Drafting Open Source Licenses - The BSD License. Restricting Commercial Uses. The Aladdin Free Public License (AFPL). The Artistic License. Commercial Uses. ; About Protecting Property.; Electronic Contract Formation - Electronic Transactions. E-SIGN. UETA. UCITA. Warranties and AS IS Licensing. Limitations on Liability. Choice of Law Provisions. ; Commercial Models and Open Source - Open Commercial Uses. The Open Software License (OSL). Documentation Licenses. ; Rolling Your Own Open Source License - Selecting a License Template. The Potential Size of The Open Source Community. ; Appendix - Significant Provisions of UCITA. Selected Provisions From UETA (1999). Selected Provisions of E-SIGN. GNU General Public License. GNU Lesser General Public License. Sun Community Source License, Version 3.0 (the SCSL). Open IP Core Hardware General Public License (OHGPL). IBM Public License, Version 1.0. Common Public License, Version 0.5. The BSD License. X Consortium License. Artistic License. Mozilla Public License, Version 1.0. The Q Public License, Version 1.0. The Apple Public Source License, Version 1.2 (the APSL). The python Copyright License. The Jabber Open Source License, Version 1.0. Amulet, Version 3.0 (CMU). Red Hat eCos Public License, Version 1.1. Eiffel Forum License, Version 1. License Agreement for Mozart, an Implementation of Oz 3. Lucent Technologies Inc. Plan 9 Open Source License Agreement. The LaTeX Project Public License (the LPPL). The Open Software License (the OPL). The GNU Free Documentation License (the GFDL). Fundamentals of Copyright Law: Copyright Infringement for Software, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and the DMCA Takes Aim at Hackers Promoting Open Source. ;
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Rod Dixon
Rod Dixon is senior attorney-advisor, U.S. Department of Education and visiting assistant professor of law, Rutgers University Law School (at Camden). He holds an LL.M. from the Georgetown University Law Center, a J.D. from George Washington University Law School, and a M.A. from the University of Pittsburgh.