The following is not meant to be legal advice.
On Ahsan A. Shaikh, associate at McDermott Will & Emery spoke about relevant cases in open source licensing on
He discussed the case of Progress Software Corp. vs.
The GPL is currently being revised. Version 3 of the GPL includes in its draft an anti-DRM provision. This would prevent companies such as Tivo from circumventing certain provisions in the GPL.
The training discussed collusion. The GPL prevents licensing of a product under the GPL when the product cannot be used by everyone.
The GPL does not restrict a user from using code, but restricts the licensee from making subsequent distributions.
The use of open source saves a lot of development costs, especially when the open source product is not related to the core competency of the company.
The training distinguished the LGPL from the GPL. Proprietary software that uses LGPL libraries is not subject to copyleft. The LGPL broadens the use of LGPL libraries in commercial products.
The licensor who wants to prevent having to disclose source code when a licensee uses open source products should put restrictions in license agreements that prevent the licensee from bringing the licensor’s product subject to source code releases. These provisions should be excluded from liability caps.
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