Distribution in Open Source
Martin von Haller Groenbaek partner, Bender von Haller Dragsted
ITECHLAW ASIA 2010 Bangalore, 5 February 2010
• Attorney-at-law, Bender von Haller Dragsted• Co-founder, Open Source Vendors Ass. (OSL)• Editorial board IFOSSLR• Co-founder, Creative Commons DK• Co-founder, Danish Internet Society Chapter
• http://www.bvhd.d• http://www.openlife.dk • http://www.vonhaller.dk • http://www.linkedin.com/in/vonhaller • http://www.23hq.com/mhg• http://www.slideshare.net/vonhaller• http://www.facebook.com/vonhaller
20/80
3 questions in 20 minutes
Goal
F.U.D
FEAR
UNCERTAINTY
DOUBT
Open Source means
Business
Businessmodel
3 questions in 20 minutes
#1What is
distribution?
#2Why does it
matter?
#3Show me the
money!
Open source intro
All about licenses
Not contracts
Comply or
don’t use
4 freedoms (or license rights)
#1Run the
object code
#2Access
source code
#3Modify the source code
#4Make and
transfer copies
Also user restrictions!
These rights are
yours…
…regardless of distribution
No distribution=
(almost)No restrictions
Distribution=
Restrictions
Copyright notice
preservation
License terms
preservation
Access to
source code
Your patents
are affected
Copyleft
Release your own modify
code…
…under the same license
Distribution=
Copyleft
Most open source
caselaw…
…involves distribution
AnswerQuestion 2
Does distribution
matter in open source?
YES!
Most restrictionsin OS licensesPresupposedDistribution
In particular,Copyleft
Question 1:What is
Distribution?
Answers in
Copyright law
Open Source licenses
US Copyright law
"distribute copies...of the copyrighted work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or
lending" (7 USC section 106 (3))
Any transfer of a copy
Nordic Countries
(and the EU)
Any transfer of a copy
Exception:Private copies
Commercial and non Commercial
The text of the OS Licenses
US-centric by tradition
GPL v2
70%
“distribute”“redistribute”
“physical act of transferring a copy”
(sec 1, 3rd paragraph)
BSD license “Redistribution”
MIT License “Publish, distribute”
Apache License, Version 2.0
“reproduce and distribute copies”
(sec 4)
Eclipse Public License - v 1.0“publicly display, publicly perform, distribute” (Sec 2,
litra a)
AnswerQuestion 1
What is distribution?
3 rules of thumb
#1Physical copy
must be transferred
#2The transferee
must be a third party
#3No distinction
between commercial or
non-commercial
US vs. EU
All “public” transfers are distribution
Some “private” transfers
may not be distribution
Grey areas
Employees
Never distribution
Freelancers vs. Contractors
A contractor is a third party
A physical copy of code is transferred
Internal servers
”Public” vs. ”Private”?
Subsidiaries
Third party
Joint ventures=
Distribution
100% owned subsidiaries
US: ”Unity of Ownership”
=Maybe not distribution
EU: ”Private” transfer
=Maybe not distribution
Outsourcing
Third party
A physical copy of the code is transferred
US: Distribution
EU: Probably a “private” transfer
M&A
Only assets, not share, sale
The acquiror is a third party
A physical copy is transferred
US: Distribution
EU: Distribution
Copyleft is triggered
Problem?
No!
GPL is a hereditary
License!
Google?
Heavy user of Open source
software
Lots of modifications!
No access to
source code
ASP loophole
GPLv3:Network exception
Functionalitiesvia
Network
BrowserInternet
A physical copy of the code is not
transferred
Copyleft is not triggered
Controversy!
AnswerQuestion 3
Business?
Lawyers get paid to explain!
Dual licensing
The licensor’s free choice of
licenses
Choice #1GPL
Copyleft
Company usesGPL’ed software
Makes modifications
Wants to distribute
modifications
… but does not want to release
source code!
Trade secrets
Choice #2
License with copyleft
exemption
…and with a license fee!
MySQL AB
Database software under GPL v2
”Commercial” license with no
copyleft
…and with warranties and
support
Sold to SUN in 2008
More than 1.000.000.000
USD!
All software open sourced!
Open source means
business!
Slides atwww.slideshare.com/
vonhaller
Thank you!
