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The Gpl Meets The Ucc: Does Free Software Come With A Warranty Of No Infringement Of Patents And Copyrights?, Stephen M. Mcjohn
The Gpl Meets The Ucc: Does Free Software Come With A Warranty Of No Infringement Of Patents And Copyrights?, Stephen M. Mcjohn
Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works
The GNU General Public License, known as the GPL, is the cornerstone of free software. The GPL has served as the organizing document for free software, providing a structure that has helped transformed the development of software and electronic devices. Software licensed under the GPL may be freely copied and adapted. The source code for the software is made available, to enable anyone to study and change it. The GPL does have "copyleft" restrictions, intended to keep the software free for others. If someone adapts and redistributes GPL’d software, they must likewise allow access to their source code. The GPL …
The Paradoxes Of Free Software, Stephen M. Mcjohn
The Paradoxes Of Free Software, Stephen M. Mcjohn
Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works
This paper describes the legal structure of open source software and analyzes the likely issues to arise. A combination of copyright law and trademark law serves to permit the free distribution of open source software. The software is kept under copyright, but freely licensed under one of various open source licenses. The legal structure of open source is an elegant and robust use of intellectual property law that turns the customary use of intellectual property on its head, by using intellectual property laws, which normally are used to guard exclusive rights, to safeguard free access to and use of software. …