Copyright win for open source

Open source victorious in US Court of Appeal

The open-source community celebrated last week when the US Court of Appeals found that users failing to abide by the terms of open-source licences could be found guilty of copyright infringement.

The ruling was hailed as “huge” by Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig. Computing canvassed opinion from the UK and found the ruling was broadly welcomed.

Jennifer Carlton, senior programme manager at Intellect, said: “Intellect welcomes the ruling in the US Court of Appeal. Open-source licences are just as important for compliance as those purchased from proprietary vendors. Software use must still comply with the terms and conditions. This can include an obligation to share any changes made with others in the community. Giving the same protection to open-source software as to traditional software models ensures that open source has a sustainable future.”

Mark Taylor, chief executive of software developer Sirius said: “It is great news. It means it is no longer viable to say there are all sorts of risks associated with open source. And it will make a difference in terms of market and media perceptions. Proprietary suppliers have been claiming it is risky and that tactic is less likely to work now.”

Laurent Lachal, head of open source at analyst Ovum, said: “Open source is a large movement and this is one relatively minor licence among many open-source licences, so even if the ruling had not come, it would not have made the open-source movement collapse. But it is a nice step forward that one of the licences is enforceable, which is a good thing.”

Matt Asay, vice president of business development at open-source firm Alfresco, said the ruling would send out a strong message to any firm looking to use open-source code in its products.

“I know a range of open-source projects where firms took their code with impunity on the assumption no one could do anything,” he said. “So this ruling gives all open-source licences stronger ground to say ‘you must respect our intellectual property’.”
Ian Lynch, a member of the Open Schools Alliance and the provider of the Ingot ICT qualifications in open systems, said: “This ruling means anyone abusing open-source copyright will be punished to an extent that makes it not worth doing. It is more an insurance against anyone doing it in the future since I am not aware of any major infringements. The ruling removes a potential unexploded bomb.”