October 17th, 2006
Does open source indemnification still matter?
The good people at Open Logic announced today they will provide indemnification against patent and copyright claims for 160 programs in their Certified Library. (To celebrate, the above image is from the center of the Open Logic home page.)
Now, does anyone care?
Maybe I missed something but I am unaware of any case where an enterprise had to pay a copyright or patent holder because some open source program they were running contained patented or copyrighted material.
Yes, the SCO case was all about this. Yes, the case continues. A magistrate tossed most of the claims in June, and the defendants have a request for summary judgment pending, with a trial scheduled for 2007 if that doesn't happen.
Back in the real world, we move on. I just don't see indemnification as an issue for enterprises today. But I would love to be shown how I am wrong about that.
Is there a lawyer in the house?
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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| 10/23/06
