Open Source Compliance in Businesses

Martin von Willebrand and Mikko-Pekka Partanen write on Open Source Software Package Review for businesses in the recently published issue of International Free and Open Source Softare Law Review (IFOSSLR).

From the article summary: “Free and open source software (“FOSS”) package review is an essential part of license compliance when businesses take into use FOSS. This article discusses the practical process of package review and the legal questions that arise and conclusions that can be made. Furthermore this article presents the process and a number of legal conclusions applied by Validos ry, an association for performing package review and sharing its results.”

“The article presents in a detailed way one method of reviewing open source packages. The Creative Commons license chosen for the article allows modifications so that any business may use parts of the article, modified to their liking, in e.g. their internal policies on open source compliance”, explains Martin von Willebrand, co-author of the article and the head of HH Partners technology practice.

The article can be freely downloaded from IFOSSLR’s web pages.

The International Free and Open Source Software Law Review (IFOSS L. Rev.) is a collaborative legal publication aiming to increase knowledge and understanding among lawyers about Free and Open Source Software issues. Topics covered include copyright, licence implementation, licence interpretation, software patents, open standards, case law and statutory changes.