AIPLA QUARTERLY JOURNAL Volume 38, Number 4 Page 437 Fall 2010 WHAT CAN DECISIONS BY EUROPEAN COURTS TEACH US ABOUT THE FUTURE OF OPEN-SOURCE LITIGATION IN THE UNITED STATES Jennifer Buchanan O’Neill & Christopher J. Gaspar* I. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 438 II. CORPORATE AMERICA MEETS OPEN-SOURCE ................................................ 440 III. IT ALL STARTED WITH A 25-YEAR-OLD GERMAN DEVELOPER . ............. 444 IV. A FRENCH APPELLATE COURT ENFORCES THE GPL IN FAVOR OF A SOFTWARE RECIPIENT ...................................................................................... 450 V. COMING TO AMERICA...................................................................................... 453 VI. FULL STEAM AHEAD AT THE FEDERAL CIRCUIT ............................................. 459 VII. RECENT ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS IN U.S. COURTS CONTINUE TO FOLLOW PATTERNS FORMED IN EUROPEAN COURTS .................................................... 465 VIII. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 468 * © 2010 Jennifer Buchanan O’Neill & Christopher J. Gaspar. Jennifer Buchanan O’Neill (Jennifer.O’
[email protected]) is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel at The Nielsen Company. Christopher J. Gaspar (
[email protected]) is a partner in the New York office of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, where he advises on all aspects of intellectual property litigation and transactions.