Top 5: Legal Issues In Open Source In 2014

The most-read articles this year on Opensource.com demonstrated a strong interest in the changing aspects of complicated issues. For example, the top two stories this year both relate to a complex series of cases involving a dispute between Versata and Aperiprise surrounding alleged violations of the GNU General Public License (GPL).

In addition to cutting-edge legal issues, readers remain very interested in more practical questions such as which open source license they should use.

And readers were also interested in the biggest software patent case from the Supreme Court in recent memory, Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank.

But it’s not just developments in the court that had readers’ interest: the FTC’s patent-assertion study represents a potentially important step to combat the harmful effects of Patent Assertion Entities.

Looking ahead to 2015, open source legal issues will likely remain in the news, with a possible new push to revive patent litigation reform in the United States under the new Congress.

Top 5 open source in law articles in 2014

1. Lawsuit threatens to break new ground on the GPL and software licensing issues by Aaron Williamson

2. GPLv2 goes to court: More decisions from the Versata tarpit by Mark Radcliffe

3. Top 10 legal issues for free software of 2013 by Mark Radcliffe

4. The Supreme Court invalidates a software patent in Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank by Rob Tiller

5. Copyright statements proliferate inside open source code by Rich Bowen

All-time favorite: Which open source software license should I use? by Stephen R. Walli