Commons Law

Open Source Law

Andrew Katz — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 09:22:48 GMT

I’m hoping in the next few months (possibly weeks) to practise what I preach: I’m working with a client, Emerge Open, to release a suite of legal documents under a creative commons licence, provisionally BY-SA (attribution-share alike, which means that...

Open source: The evildoer's choice

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 09:47:07 GMT

If you're an evil dictator with designs on world domination, and want the best database software to build your SDPMS (Superhero Death Plot Management Software), and if you also have an irrational (for an evil dictator) desire to remain compliant...

Open source hardware: Announcing a new licence

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 12:48:27 GMT

Open hardware is coming of age. I'm currently working on projects as diverse as open source cars, open source boats, open source wind turbines and open source electronics. A problem is that there are only two open licences designed for...

The road to copyright court is paved with good intentions

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:11:44 GMT

As I pointed out in my last post, intention is irrelevant when determining whether someone is infringing copyright (assuming that the Temple Island case I mentioned is appealed, and the Court of Appeal does the right thing*). I mentioned George...

Copyright case spells trouble for developers

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:50:06 GMT

There's been a fair amount of coverage of a worrying judgement in a copyright case involving a couple of pictures of a red Routemaster crossing Westminster bridge. A good one is here (HT to Emily Goodhand for the link -...

Helpful judgment from the Advocate General

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:37:29 GMT

Is it possible to claim that an API is covered by copyright, so that it can't be reverse engineered and a competing product built using a compatible API? Likewise, can a programming language be protected by copyright, so it's not...

Avoiding patent liability by making things at home

Tue, 13 Sep 2011 04:50:43 GMT

Section 60(5)(a) of the Patents Act 1977 provides that you can’t infringe any patents by doing an act in private and for non-commercial purposes. Patent holders have presumably been reasonably unconcerned about the odd lone tinkerer making potentially infringing...

Open hardware, or open source hardware?

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 09:05:21 GMT

Bruce Perens (co-founder of the Open Source Initiative) has been opining about the difference between open source hardware and open hardware. People have compared the debate to the difference between open source software and free software, and are concerned that...

Important GPL violation case to hit courts

Andrew Katz — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 09:21:55 GMT

For GPL watchers, a crucial case is due to be heard in Germany tomorrow. AVM produces DSL routers using firmware based on the Linux kernel. Cybits AG, produces web filtering software aimed at protecting children. It seems that one...

Why does the Government need to own the copyright in software it has developed?

Andrew Katz — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:31:57 GMT

Tech contract negotiations frequently involve a lot of argument about who gets to own the copyright generated. They essentially boil down to points of principle, rather than reasoned argument. Like many other complex issues, it’s worth going back to...

Google, connections and a real - virtual mix

Andrew Katz — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 09:31:26 GMT

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I've just come back from the US East Coast to catch up with open source related goings-on in Boston and New York. Boston (Wednesday) kicked off with a cup of tea with...

Music on Ubuntu

Andrew Katz — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 12:43:38 GMT

It's a dirty secret that as a lawyer who specialises in (and loves) free and open source software, one of my favourite pieces of software is Reason (and its snappily-named stablemate "Record") from Propellerheads in Sweden. It's professional music making...

Registering "App Store" as a trade mark

Andrew Katz — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 14:11:08 GMT

It's always nice to be able to report that Microsoft is doing the right thing, and in this case, everyone's favourite abuser-of-a-dominant-position seems to be. It's been reported that Microsoft is objecting to Apple's attempts to register "App Store" as...

What is copyright for?

Andrew Katz — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 12:10:47 GMT

There’s a great piece by Cory Doctorow here. In a nutshell: decide what copyright is for, and then make sure it does what it’s supposed to. I’m a big fan of Bill Patry, copyright scholar, and one of the senior...

Is a driving licence enforceable?

Andrew Katz — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 17:10:27 GMT

I'm always getting asked "is the GPL enforceable"?. The question is meaningless.If I ask "Is a contract enforceable", it means "can one party to the contract sue someone else under it?". The GPL is not a contract . It's a...

Interfaces, specifications and DNA

Andrew Katz — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 11:17:18 GMT

Modularity and open source go hand in hand. There are several reasons for this: coding relatively small sub-assemblies to strict interface parameters works well for small teams of programmers. Published interfaces are the sine-qua-non of openness. Creating a plug-in specification...

Here comes the patentpocolypse

Andrew Katz — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 12:33:07 GMT

The patentpocalypse is here. Or, to be more accurate, it’s (mostly) in the US. Take a look at this great little graphic from the WSJ Law blog: People often forget that patents by their nature are limited to individual jurisdictions....

Scratch and code for kids

Andrew Katz — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 13:02:47 GMT

My son has given his verdict “Scratch is great, Dad, and you can do all sorts of stuff with it, not just games. Kodu’s just a way of making games. It’s not as fun.” Digging around a bit, it seems...

ACS:Law, porn and Scientology: No comment

Andrew Katz — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 13:23:27 GMT

Fellow solicitor David Allen Green, aka Jack of Kent took up the cause of Councillor John Dixon, and has been covering story on his blog. Jack of Kent explains the background much better than I could. In brief, John Dixon...

MIT, Microsoft and kids programming

Andrew Katz — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 00:54:53 GMT

My 10 year old son’s having great fun with MIT’s Scratch: a programming language for kids. Download it and play here. The Scratch motto is “imagine, program, share”, and the Scratch web page is dominated by projects uploaded by keen...

What's in an analogy?

Andrew Katz — Wed, 22 Sep 2010 01:53:41 GMT

The US constitution grants Congress the power: to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited times to Authors ... the exclusive Right to their ... Writings Although he wasn't in the US at the time...

For sale - one set of Accounts Software: One careful owner, FSH, MOT

Andrew Katz — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 11:54:28 GMT

Autotrader is evidence that there is a sizeable used-car market in the UK. The same isn’t the case with software. Certainly, you can find software for sale at car boot sales and on eBay, but the default assumption is that...

I'm not in the business of...

Andrew Katz — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 09:52:06 GMT

Twitter is a great place for nuggets of information which are superficially attractive, but don't actually bear serious analysis. The following anecdote just about fits into 140 characters: The great Harvard marketing Prof. Theodore Levitt used to say, "People don't...

3G. No bars, no data.

Andrew Katz — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 11:53:10 GMT

Taking your phone abroad is doubly annoying. First, because you know you’re going to get a monstrous bill on your return (although, we hope that recent regulations will mitigate this to a certain extent) and second, because for once you’ll...

Entree Libre, Software Libre

Andrew Katz — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 11:51:26 GMT

Entree Libre, Software Libre Many years ago, some Paris shops tried a radical experiment. They started displaying signs saying "Entree Libre" ("free entry"). They encouraged potential purchasers to be free (libre) to come and go, without any obligation to buy...