Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC)

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Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell, Facebook, Fujitsu, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NetApp, Rackspace, VMware And The Linux Foundation Form New Initiative To Support Critical Open Source Projects

Press Release | The Linux Foundation, Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Dell, Facebook, Fujitsu, Google, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NetApp, Rackspace, VMware | April 24, 2014

The Linux Foundation today announced it has formed a new project to fund and support critical elements of the global information infrastructure. The Core Infrastructure Initiative enables technology companies to collaboratively identify and fund open source projects that are in need of assistance, while allowing the developers to continue their work under the community norms that have made open source so successful.

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Karen Sandler Addresses Open Source's "Identity Crisis"

For Karen Sandler, software freedom isn't simply a technical matter. Nor is it a purely ideological one. It's a matter of life and death. Sandler, Executive Director of the non-profit Software Freedom Conservancy, says software freedom became personal when she realized her pacemaker/defibrillator was running code she couldn't analyze. For nearly a decade—first at the Software Feedom Law Center, then at the GNOME Foundation before Conservancy—she's been an advocate for the right to examine the software on which our lives depend...

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Numbers Don't Lie: Patent Trolls Are A Plague

Simon Phipps | InfoWorld | October 19, 2012

Recent research supports view that patent troll activity is rising -- costing America a fortune in wasted legal fees and lost jobs Read More »

Pursuing Adoption of Free and Open Source Software in Governments

Free and open source software creates a natural — and even necessary — fit with government. I joined a panel this past weekend at the Free Software Foundation conference LibrePlanet on this topic and have covered it previously in a journal article and talk. Our panel focused on barriers to its adoption and steps that free software advocates could take to reach out to government agencies. Read More »

Top 10 FOSS Legal Developments of 2014

The year 2014 continued the trend of the increasing importance of legal issues for the FOSS community. Continuing the tradition of looking back over the top ten legal developments in FOSS, my selection of the top ten issues for 2014 is as follows...

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Top 10 Open Source Legal Developments in 2015

In 2015 there were a variety of legal issues of importance to the FOSS (free and open source) community. Continuing the tradition of looking back over the top ten legal developments in FOSS, my selection of the top ten issues for 2015 is as follows:

  1. Settlement of Versata cases interpreting General Public License version 2 (GPLv2)
  2. First decision interpreting General Public License version 3 (GPLv3)
  3. Linux programmer sues VMware for violation of GPLv2 for Linux
  4. Community GPL compliance
  5. European Commission antitrust investigation of Google and its Android operating System (Android OS)...