Intellectual Property and Open Source: A Practical Guide to Protecting Code

by Van Lindberg

Book Overview

"Clear, correct, and deep, this is a welcome addition to discussions of law and computing for anyone -- even lawyers " -- Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the Stanford Center for Internet and Society

If you work in information technology, intellectual property is central to your job -- but dealing with the complexities of the legal system can be mind-boggling. This book is for anyone who wants to understand...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0596517963
• ISBN13: 9780596517960
• Release Date: July 2008
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

A must for anyone in the business of techology

This book is an excellent resource for anyone involved in technology products. It is a first class primer on intellectual property and uses examples familiar to technical people. There is unavoidable legal discussions but they are presented in a manner that makes it easy to understand. Anyone in a technology oriented field, especially the computer industry, should read this book.

Targeted well for the technology professional...

As a software developer, it's almost a certainty that you either participate in or use open source software somewhere in your computing environment. But even though you may have the source code sitting in front of you, it doesn't mean you can anything you darn well please with it. Van Lindberg's book Intellectual Property and Open Source: A Practical Guide to Protecting Code does a very good job in presenting the intricacies of open source licensing in a way that won't automatically put a developer to sleep. Granted, there's still a lot of legal concepts to wade through, but in my opinion he hit the right mix between legalities and practicalities. Contents: The Economic and Legal Foundations of Intellectual Property; The Patent Document; The Patent System; Copyright; Trademarks; Trade Secrets; Contracts and Licenses; The Economic and Legal Foundations of Open Source Software; So I Have An Idea...; Choosing A License; Accepting Patches and Contributions; Working With The GPL; Reverse Engineering; Incorporating As A Non-Profit Appendices: Sample Proprietary Information Agreement (PIA); Open Source License List; Free Software License List; Fedora License List and GPL Compatibility; Public Domain Declaration; The Simplified BSD License; The Apache License, Version 2.0; The Mozilla Public License, Version 1.1; The GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 2.1; The GNU Lesser General Public License, Version 3; The GNU General Public License, Version 2, June 1991; The GNU General Public License, Version 3, June 2007; The Open Software License, Version 3.0 Index Lindberg accomplishes a couple of purposes in this book. The first few chapters trace the history and general concepts of intellectual property law, such as patents and trade secrets. This is necessary, in that it lays the groundwork to be able to understand what part of your work may or may not be covered by intellectual property laws. While there are plenty of legal concepts and examples cited, he doesn't get so far down into the weeds as to make the material irrelevant to the target audience... technology professionals. The last half of the book then uses that foundation to talk specifically about open source software, licenses, and legal issues being faced today. And really, it's more complex than you'd think (but isn't *anything* legal overly complex?) Each of the licenses he covers has certain advantages and disadvantages that can make a significant impact on how you and others can use your software going forward. For instance, one license may allow the user to use it in any way they see fit, including using it in their own non-open source software. Other licenses actually force any software project using the open source code to also be bound by the same license, meaning that your work has to be made available in open source form to others. Based on what you plan on building and how you want to market it, this could make the difference between a thriving business or a ruinou

Must read for developers, open source or not.

The first 8 chapters of the book, covering some history and the current state of intellectual property law in the US - should be read by anyone writing code in the United States - whether they work with Open Source or not. As already mentioned, the language and examples are very understandable. The author obviously 'gets' both sides of this issue and can communicate in a way that resonates with his target audience. I learned a lot just working through the introductory material. If one does intend to work with, use or contribute to open source software, those portions of the book are indispensable. There is just a ton of great advice and information. I knocked this out while on vacation last week. I don't know that I've ever read all the way through a book about law before. It was extremely informative but not a burden to read.

The best legal book on open source I've read (and I've read them all)

I've been involved in open source and the software world for over 10 years now, and have read every book on open source and legal issues that has been written. This is by far the best. Why? Because it lays out in clear, easy-to-understand language what open source means for the developer. You don't have to be a legal expert to grasp the principles laid out in the book. In fact, Lindberg walks the reader through commonly obtuse principles by analogizing to software principles that the reader will easily understand. In addition, it's very well-written. Lindberg has an outstanding style that makes this readable. I won't say it's like reading Charles Dickens, but at times it really is that enjoyable.