November 24th, 2008
Is the era of open source legal stupidity over?
I would love to go through 2009 and never have to use the tag “legal” on an open source blog post.
Wishes do come true. SCO has lost, to the tune of $2.54 million, plus interest. The era of obvious business method patenting may also be over, along with Microsoft’s patent threats, thanks to the decision In Re Bilski.
Some SCO partisans still don’t believe it, and lawyers like to get paid, but at some point in the economic cycle such arguments become an unaffordable luxury and we may well be at that point.
The legal status of open source and Linux now seems clear. The contracts are legal, the software is legit.
Where does the law go from here?
My hope is that it goes back to basics. New inventions deserve protection, but only for themselves, not for the idea of invention. And not every great idea must have someone with a hand out behind it.
Some ideas are just a hand up.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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