Court Blocks Software that Violates Open Source Terms
September 28, 2009
By: Andrew (A.J.) Tibbetts and Edmund J. Walsh
New England In-House Counsel
Advocates of open source software won a victory when a federal appeals court ruled that those who do not abide by all conditions of an open source software license can be sued for copyright infringement and ordered to stop using the software.
The decision in Jacobsen v. Katzer is significant because it is the first time an appellate court has directly considered the legal tenets of open source software and sets a standard for remedies in open source disputes that toughen the restrictions in open source licenses.
