Patent Litigation Lawyer

An interesting decision was reached in court recently regarding the status of open source license conditions.  According to the court, the conditions are indeed enforceable under the copyright laws.

The courts believed that copyright holders in open source licensing have the right to control the modification and distribution of copyrighted material.  Anything other than what is specified under the rules and regulations stipulated by the copyright holder are considered unauthorized.  Unauthorized use of the content constitutes an infringement.

The judges determined that the “clear language of the Artistic Licensee creates conditions to protect the economic rights at issue in the granting of a public license.”  They figured that these rights apply to open source computer programs and that license conditions are enforceable through copyright law.

Patents, copyrights and the like can be very confusing.  It may be beneficial to hire the help of an experienced professional.  If you would like to explore your options, call the patent lawyers of Williams Kherkher at 866.950.9000.