Volume 01} Issue 01}July 2009
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Volume 01} Issue 01} July 2009 Contents Editorials Foreword and statement of purpose: an introduction to IFOSS L. Rev. 3 Iain G. Mitchell QC on behalf of the IFOSSLR Editorial Committee Articles The Fiduciary Licence Agreement: Appointing legal guardians for Free Software Projects 9 Ywein Van den Brande Collaborative Approach: Peer-to-Patent and the open source movement 15 Christopher Wong, Jason Kreps Bad facts make good law: the Jacobsen case and Open Source 27 Lawrence Rosen Introducing the Risk Grid 33 Shane Martin Coughlan, Andrew Katz Case law reports Jacobsen v Katzer and Kamind Associates – an English legal perspective 41 Mark Henley Book reviews 'Open Source Technology and Policy' by Fadi P. Deek and James A.M. McHugh 45 Andrew Katz 1 Tech Watch Tech Watch 49 Adriaan de Groot 69200 7 Platform Collaboration among counsel: celebrating the formation of a community of lawyers for the advancement of understanding of Free and Open Source licensing and ISSN: 1877-6922 business models 53 77187 Karen Faulds Copenhaver 9 Available online at: http://www.ifosslr.org Volume 01} Issue 01} July 2009 Impressum Editorial Committee Tomasz Rychlicki This publication is managed by a rotating Editorial Tomasz Rychlicki graduated from the University of Gda sk, the Faculty of Law, Center of European Law. He also studied at Committee. The membership of the Committee Chicago-Kent College of Law in the LL.M. Program in for this issue is as follows: International Intellectual Property Law. Tomasz currently works for PATPOL, Warsaw. He is a member of the Editorial Board Amanda Brock (Copyright, Related Rights and Designs, including sui generis Amanda Brock is General Counsel of Canonical, the database right) at the Journal of Intellectual Property Law & commercial sponsor of the Ubuntu project. Having graduated Practice published by Oxford University Press, Oxford. with Honours from Glasgow University, Amanda went on to obtain a Masters in Comparative Jurisprudence from New York University Law School and a LLM in IT and IP law from Queen Brendan Scott Mary and Westfield, University of London. She is author of Brendan runs a legal practice based in Sydney, Australia. E:Business; The Practical Guide to the Laws and has written Brendan is a founding member and a director of Open Source extensively on commercial and IT law. Industry Australia Limited. He is a past president of the NSW Society for Computers and the Law and a past editor of its journal. He has over 15 years of experience in Technology and Daniel Berlin Telecommunications law and has a special interest in open Daniel Berlin works in Washington, D.C., for Google as a source and the law related to it. member of its technical staff and as a lawyer. Prior to his work with Google, Berlin was an advisory engineer with IBM Ywein Van den Brande Research in New York, where he worked on open source Ywein Van den Brande (b. 1977) studied law, information projects such as Subversion and GCC. Berlin earned a law science and economics at the Catholic University of Leuven and degree from the George Washington University School of Law Groep T (Leuven, Belgium), the Université de Rouen (Rouen, and a bachelor of science degree in computer science from the France) and U.C.L.A. (Los Angeles, USA). University of Rochester. Ywein is an active member of the Free Software Foundation Europe and is a member of workgroups on information architecture and usability. Ywein is the author of several legal Michel Jaccard contributions on law and technology, and regularly speaks at Partner, BCCC Avocats, Geneva / Lausanne. Expertise in IT, IP conferences. He is a guest lecturer at Groep T and blogs on the and corporate transactions. CIF blog of the journal www.tijd.be. Andrew Katz Mark Webbink Andrew Katz studied Natural Sciences and Law at Cambridge Mark Webbink is a Visiting Professor of Law and Executive University where he graduated with honours in 1989. In 1991 he Director of the Center for Patent Innovations at New York Law was called to the Bar, and in 1993 requalified as a solicitor. He School. Webbink is also a Senior Lecturing Fellow at Duke Law moonlighted as a programmer during his studies at Bar School, School and has served as an Adjunct Professor at NCCU Law programming in Turbo Pascal. He has released software under School. From 2000 to 2007 Webbink served in various the GPL. He is currently a partner at Moorcrofts LLP, a boutique capacities with Red Hat, Inc., including General Counsel, law firm in England's Thames Valley and advises a wide range Deputy General Counsel for Intellectual Property, Senior Vice of businesses on free and open source related issues. He has President and Secretary. Webbink presently serves on the lectured and published widely on the subject. board of directors of the Software Freedom Law Center. Florence Tung-Mei Ko The editors wish to thank the Editorial Coordinators In 2005, Florence Tung-Mei Ko joined the Open Source for their hard work and contribution to making Software Foundry (OSSF) at Academia Sinica as a Legal the Review happen. Specialist. Since then, she has been engaged in research of Free/Open Source Software licensing. She writes the "Legal Article" column for the OSSF Newsletter, and has published many articles related to Free/Open Source Software licensing Editorial Coordinators issues in Chinese. Graeme R. West [email protected] Thomas Margoni Thomas Margoni's current role is as a post-doctoral researcher Shane Martin Coughlan at the University of Western Ontario. He previously read for a PhD at Trento Law School (Italy) and researched at UOC [email protected] (Spain) on copyright related issues, especially reutilization of contents (contracts, exceptions and DRM). His background includes engagement with FOSS and Open Content issues. He Contact has collaborated with Italian and Spanish Creative Commons The IFOSS L. Rev. Editorial Committee can legal teams on the drafting of licenses and on aspects as the relationship with collecting societies. be contacted via email at: [email protected] Iain G. Mitchell QC Chairman, Scottish Society for Computers and Law; Chairman, Scottish Lawyers' European Group; Chairman, Faculty of Advocates IT Group; Lecturer, Honorary Board of Lecturers, Institut für Informations-, Telekommunikations- und Medienrecht, Westfälische Wilhelms -Universtät, Münster; Freeman, Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. Carlo Piana Independent lawyer specialising in Information Technology and Telecommunication Law and Free Software Advocate. Started by using GNU/Linux and became intrigued by the legal and philosophical implications of it. Serves as Counsel to the Free Software Foundation Europe and advises projects and companies active in Free and Open Source Software. Available online at: http://www.ifosslr.org Policies and informations Copyright and licensing Editorial policies IFOSS L. Rev. accepts articles for statement publication from qualified personnel based IFOSS L. Rev. is committed to the on the criteria available to view on its web improvement of understanding of legal site ( http://www.ifosslr.org ). Submissions issues in digital society. A licensing are welcome from all, and authors are statement is therefore attached to each strongly encouraged to read the style and article, clearly outlining the particular terms content guidelines available on the web site. which apply to the article. Most use Creative The review operates an anonymous peer Commons licences with special exceptions review system for articles as appropriate, for translations. and expects all authors to meet the highest standards of scholarship and integrity. Graphic design The Editorial Committee wishes to thank Bibliographic information Tomasz Polita ski Design for its logo and The authors explicitly encourage libraries, associated graphic design work. archives and educational institutions to hold copies of IFOSS L. Rev. in their collections, http://tomaszpolitanski.com in electronic and/or printed form. All users are advised that articles may occasionally be updated after publication, and as such, Publisher & sponsorship regular metadata harvesting is encouraged. IFOSS L. Rev. is published by its Editorial Linking back to original copies on the Committee, with financial and administrative IFOSSLR web site, where authoritative assistance from NLnet Foundation (Science versions are archived, is strongly Park 140, 1098 XG Amsterdam,The recommended. Please contact the Editorial Netherlands) and Mozilla Foundation (650 Committee for further information on best Castro Street, Suite 300, Mountain View, practices. CA, 94041-2021, USA) ISSN: 1877-6922 Second edition The Second edition of IFLOSSLR is planned for December 2009. Suggestions for contributions will be welcomed by the Editorial committee and should be sent to: [email protected] Please note that neither NLnet Foundation nor Mozilla Foundation accept correspondence on behalf of this publication. All correspondence should be directed to the Editorial Committee via email (see above). Available online at: http://www.ifosslr.org Foreword and statement of purpose: an introduction to IFOSS L. Rev. 3 Foreword and statement of purpose: an introduction to IFOSS L. Rev. by The Editorial Committee, coordinated by Iain G. Mitchell Q.C.a (a) Iain G. Mitchell QC is Chairman of the Scottish Society for Computers and Law; Chairman of the Faculty of Advocates Information Technology Group; Chairman of the Scottish Lawyers' European Group; a visiting lecturer at the Institut für Informations- Telekommunikations- und Medienrecht at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany; former Joint Editor of the E-Law Review; and a Freeman of the Worshipful Company of Information Technologists. Abstract This editorial article by the Editorial Committee of the International Free and Open Source Software Law Review introduces the rationale behind the publication's establishment, its objectives and operating methods. The editorial also presents an overview of the articles which comprise the first issue. Keywords Law; information technology; Free and Open Source Software; International Free and Open Source Software Law Review Purpose The world is changing.