Practical Legal Considerations for Open Source Success - Intellectual Property Rights

This is an introduction to a series of upcoming postings on this blog dedicated to practical legal considerations for open source software companies from the perspective of inhouse legal counsel. My goal is to cut through the cloud of thought that often arises when people try to meld “open source” with “the law” and shine the spotlight on some of the critical, unique legal issues around intellectual property rights that open source companies face when defining their business strategies.

Open source software companies relish their role as disruptors and believe their business models lead to better quality software than their proprietary counterparts. While this often seems to be true, for all their differences, open source software companies rely on the same intellectual property rights for the foundation of their business as do proprietary software companies. The fundamental difference lies is how they protect and exploit those assets.

No matter how "pure" its open source beliefs, each open source company must carefully consider the role of intellectual property rights in its business. For some companies, this focus on intellectual property rights will be motivated by financial considerations. Without a solid foundation in intellectual property ownership and well considered intellectual property policies, investors (including venture capital firms and investors who purchase stock after an IPO) will be less confident about return on their investment. On the other end of the spectrum, even the purest of open source companies can benefit from clear intellectual rights policies by creating a more sustainable open source project.

The upcoming series of posts will touch on the four basic areas of intellectual property rights: copyright, trademark, patents and trade secrets, and later posts will expand this theme further to other aspects of open source businesses. As you will see in the first post, copyrights and copyright ownership are as relevant today in the open source world as ever before.