As we explained in our e-mail to CNET, this decision may have given the open-source movement a great boost by making it easier to enforce open-source licenses. The purpose of our e-mail was to spark meaningful discussion with CNET and other publications ]]> Open-source licensing–the innovative (if controversial) tool that makes source code available to the general public on certain conditions–is a growing movement most closely associated with Linux and other major software products.

As we explained in our e-mail to CNET, this decision may have given the open-source movement a great boost by making it easier to enforce open-source licenses. The purpose of our e-mail was to spark meaningful discussion with CNET and other publications on the issues in the decision, of which Mr. Asay was most certainly aware and which would have been clear to your readers, had the e-mail not been selectively edited to remove the invitation at the note’s end.

The movement may well have been given a great boost by a recent court decision that makes it easier to enforce open-source licenses. But the unintended side effect may be that many software developers who incorporate bits and pieces of open-source code in commercial programs will now face greater risks of significant legal penalties for doing so.

This is the theory of the (GNU General Public License) and all (Creative Commons) licenses. Put precisely, whether or not they are also contracts, they are copyright licenses which expire if you fail to abide by the terms of the license.

Perhaps nothing makes its struggle as clear as its attempt to drum up business by scaring prospective and current clientele into retaining its services to address the very scary open-source legal threat, as a recent e-mail sent out to a friend suggests:

Last December, a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in the matter of Jacobsen v. Katzer held that breach of an open-source license can support a claim for copyright infringement–with associated remedies. The Court’s ruling may also require recognizing that the open-source copyright owner has standing to sue downstream licensees for copyright infringement….

Follow me on Twitter @mjasay.

“Following this decision, commercial software developers should be even more cautious of incorporating any open-source code in their offerings. Potentially far greater monetary remedies (not to mention continued availability of equitable relief) make this vehicle one train to board with caution.”

For those who are interested, I actually could quote the e-mail in its entirety, and it would only augment my argument. I apologize to Mr. Moskin, if I misrepresented the intent of his e-mail: I was taking the words at their face value, and as an open-source advocate, I don’t appreciate that value very much.

From: “Rieck, Christopher”

Date: April 13, 2009 8:09:09 AM PDT

To: xxxxx

Subject: Open Source Decision – New Legal Penalties on Developers?

Hi Dave,

It is absolutely the case that there are legal risks in open source, but the same is 100 percent true of proprietary software. Indeed, the same risks that Mr. Moskin points out in open-source software exist in proprietary software.

No, it simply means that White & Case’s clients can’t pilfer from the open-source community without contributing back. Since when is this something to fear?

White & Case, a leading international law firm, has been struggling in the face of the recession, laying off 70 associates in late 2008.

In nontechnical terms, the court has held that free licenses such as the (Creative Commons) licenses set conditions (rather than covenants) on the use of copyrighted work. When you violate the condition, the license disappears, meaning you’re simply a copyright infringer.

Regardless, I apologize if I misread his e-mail. I’m also sorry if I seemed callous to those at his firm who lost their jobs. Unemployment is a terrible thing. I wasn’t in any way trying to minimize it and apologize if it seemed that I did so.

Debunking a law firm's open-source FUD

In an effort to stay focused on its goals, Cisco has v]]> The U.S. will be the first to recover, he added. And even though he expressed concern for the troubled times the company faces, he emphasized that Cisco is well positioned to come out of an economic downturn even stronger. He noted past economic dips where the company emerged an even more competitive player. And he vowed to aggressively invest in new markets to ensure the same is true when the economy becomes healthy once again.

In an effort to stay focused on its goals, Cisco has vowed to cut $1 billion spending for fiscal 2009, which ends in July. And Chambers said the company is on track to meet that goal.

Cisco, which sells Internet equipment to service providers and large companies, reported net income of $1.5 billion on sales of $9.1 billion for is second fiscal quarter, which ended in January. Despite the fact that sales dipped 7.5 percent from the same quarter a year ago, they were slightly better than what analysts had expected. Analysts had expected revenue to dip about 12 percent year-over-year to about $9 billion.

Cisco Systems’ optimistic leader John Chambers noted during the company’s conference call Wednesday that the economy has gone from bad to worse as sales are expected to slip as much as 20 percent in the next quarter. But he said that Cisco is well-positioned to emerge even stronger after the economic malaise.

Chambers noted that revenues for the company’s third fiscal quarter, which ends in April, will be down 15 percent to 20 percent from the previous year. In dollars, this means revenue are expected to be around $7.83 billion to $8.32 billion. Analysts had expected a forecast of about $8.71 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

Chambers said most of his customers don’t expect the economy to get better until 2010. But always the optimist, he believes things will turn around more quickly than many people believe. Although he was careful not to cite a specific time frame for recovery, he said the Obama stimulus package in the U.S. and efforts by other governments throughout the world should help kick-start the economy around the globe stimulate a recovery.

Cisco: Making lemonade from economic lemons