Open (Source) for Business: A Practical Guide to Open Source Software Licensing

Heather Meeker’s Open Source for Business is a practical, readable guide to help businesspeople, engineers, and lawyers understand open source software licensing. Based on the author’s twenty years as an attorney working at the crossroads of intellectual property and technology, this guide explains the legal and technical principles behind open source licensing so you can make the right decisions for your business. It offers tips on using open source, contributing to open source projects, and releasing your own open source software. You’ll also find quick-reference tables on the major open source licenses, plus forms and checklists you can use to promote compliance. In this book, you will learn . . . • Why open source is not a “virus” • What the GPL is and how to handle it • When and how to conduct open source audits • What a user-friendly open source policy looks like • How to avoid and respond to open source enforcement claims • How to use open source to fight patent infringement claims • How to manage trademarks for open source products