Understanding the risks and limitations of open source software
and how to manage them is key for UK business, says a technology
lawyer.
Simon Crossley, a partner at law firm Eversheds, said business
needs to understand the implications of using open source software
as well as the benefits.
Any business using open source software should manage it as
carefully as proprietary software to reduce
risk to the business.
Organisations should have a policy that ensures all use of open
source software is recorded and that compliance with the relevant
open source licence is checked.
Crossley said businesses should appoint an open source
compliance officer or have a review group responsible for tracking
obligations in terms of open source licences.
This approach ensures that any commercial software that is
developed does not infringe the rights of any open source
developers.
"Open source copyright can and will be enforced if all the
conditions of the licence are not met," said Crossley.
In August 2008, the US Court of Appeals established the
enforceability of open source licences under US copyright law.
Open source policy is also important in
mergers and acquisitions to ensure that software assets of the
companies involved are reflected accurately.
After Cisco acquired home networking firm Linksys for £272m in
2003 it was forced to release the code for several products created
using open source software.
The open source code was covered by one of more than 60 open
source software licensing agreements that required the publication
of all derived software.
Crossley said Cisco's problems with Linksys show the importance
of tracking the use of open source software and checking licensing
obligations.
It also shows the importance of doing regular software audits to
ensure that no developers within an organisation have used open
source code without recording it.
"As open source becomes more mainstream, it is increasingly
important for businesses to understand the rules that govern its
use," said Crossley.