malyk shah behm open source licences

8/14/2019 Malyk Shah Behm Open Source Licences

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IN4MATX269: Computer Law

Spring 2008

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Software Licensing

Anton Malyk, Ajey Shah, Alexander Behm

University of California, IrvineInstructor: Prof. David G. Kay


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ICS269: Computer Law

Spring 2008

Overview

History of software and licenses

Categories of licenses

Software Foundations

Popular licenses

Comparison of licenses

Working around licenses

History of Unix Case Study: SCO vs. Linux


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History of software

Until early 1970s

Sharing of source code was the accepted norm.

There were groups formed for collaboration:

MITSHARE IBMDECUS DEC

No concerted effort to keep software free.

Software was developed by the user community.


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CHANGING TIMES

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, companies began routinely imposingrestrictions on programmers through copyright.

Motivated by financial gains by selling rights of use rather than giving the code.

Bill Gates signaled the change of the times in 1976 when he wrote his now-

famous Open Letter to Hobbyists.Wrote Altair BASIC for MITS.dismayed at the rampant copyright infringement taking place in thehobbyist communitySignaled that there was little incentive in making software available for free.Who can afford to do professional work for nothing?

History of software (contd.)

Beyond 1975


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Richard Stallman from MIT

GNU Project was established in 1983 to write a complete operating system free

from constraints on use of its source code.disagreement between Stallman and Symbolics, Inc. over Stallman'saccess to changes Symbolics had made to a program he wrote.

Problems with the kernel GNU HURD.

Successful projectsGNU DebuggerGNU EmacsGNU Complier Collection


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During the time 1975-1995 Microsoft continued to churn out proprietarysoftware products and increased its revenue.

OS/2 in 1985

Windows in 1986IPO in 1987Office in 1989

Windows 3.0 1990

Novell accused Microsoft of using inside information about its systems to makeOffice suite better than Word Perfect.


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Linux 1991Linus Torvalds in Finland developed LinuxHe was not satisfied with MinixReleased freely modifiable source code in 1991Relicensed under GNU GPL in 1992

386BSD 1993In California Bill Jolitz @ UC Berkeley


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Open source initiated by Eric Raymond.Put Stallmans radical ideas into less intimidating formEmphazise business potential of sharing codeGet different fragmented free software groups together

NetscapeNetscape Communicator released its codebase under NPL.

Internet RevolutionApache HTTP Server

PHPMySQLLAMP systems

Birth of OpenSource - 1998


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Current TrendsStrike a balance betweencommercial interests

IP issuescollaboration in developmentreference code

Open standardsOpen SocialOpen Handset Alliance

Microsoft opens up with the SharedSource initiative.Port 25 open source software lab (interop)

CodePlex opens source code hostingMicrosoft-PublicLicense(Ms-PL) (OSI Certified &GPL Compatible)Microsoft-ReciprocalLicense(Ms-RL) (OSICertified)

Novell-Microsoft Interoperability


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In brief

Proprietary Open

Pros Greater commercial valueLeads to more funds for researchBetter support

Ability to modify codeAbility to re-distributeNo vendor lock

Democracy!Cheaper?

Cons Vendor Lock InAnti Trust

Security IssuesExpensiveRestrictive use

No guarantee offurther dev.

IP issuesSupport andservicing?Difficult to monetize


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Categories of softwareFree software

anyone to use, copy, and distribute, either verbatim or withmodifications, either gratis or for a fee.Free software is a matter of freedom, not price.

Open sourceMore or less same as Free softwareThey may accept some more restrictive licenses

Copy left softwaredistribution terms ensure that all copies of all versions are free software

Block means of turning future versions proprietaryGenerally no modifications can be made to the license

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Categories of licenses(cont.)Non free software

SemiFree softwarepermission for individuals to use, copy, distribute, and modify(including distribution of modified versions) for non-profit purposes

Proprietory software

use, redistribution or modification is prohibited, or requires you toask for permission, or is restricted so much that you effectively can'tdo it freely

Freewarecommonly used for packages which permit redistribution but notmodification (and their source code is not available)

Sharewaresoftware which comes with permission for people to redistributecopies, but says that anyone who continues to use a copy is requiredto pay a license fee

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Categories of licenses(cont.)Private software

custom software is software developed for one user (typically anorganization or company).

Commercial software

developed by a business which aims to make money from the use of thesoftwareCan be open source software eg some software from RedHat, Novell orIBMCan be proprietary software e.g Microsoft

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Software FoundationsFree Software Foundation

Led by Richard StallmanPrinciple sponsor of GNU projectGoal: to advance software freedomSister organizations in Europe, Latin America, India

Open Source InitiativeInteroperability the grand goal

any license (free, open, or closed)any implementation

any implementerOut of scope

does not prescribe how open standards for software should becreated, debated, ratified, and maintained except that they notpreclude a viable implementation in open source.

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Licenses Available

GNU GPLStrong copyleft

GNU LGPLNo copy left on linking libraries

GNU AGPLCovers scenario of software run over a network

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GNU GPL compatible open source licensesApache License 2.0Modified BSDFree BSDMicrosoft Public License

Open LDAP License v2.7License of RubyLicense of Python 2.0.1 and newer



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Charging Money for Free Software??

High price hurt freeness?

Fees and GNU GPL

Special case restriction



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License CRITERIA

2. Free Redistribution3. Source Code

4. Derived Works5. Integrity of The Author's Source Code6. No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups7. No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor8. Distribution of License9. License Must Not Be Specific to a Product10. License Must Not Restrict Other Software

11. License Must Be Technology-Neutral



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Popular licenses under Open Source InitiativeApache License, 2.0New and Simplified BSD licenses

GNU General Public License (GPL)GNU Library or "Lesser" General Public License (LGPL)MIT license Mozilla Public License 1.1 (MPL)Common Development and Distribution License by Sun MicrosystemsCommon Public License 1.0 by IBMEclipse Public License




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ICS269: Computer LawSpring 2008

Overview




Popular licenses

Comparison of licenses






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Overview

Permissive

GPL LGPL MPL

X11/MIT

Apache

BSD

Strong

Copyleft

Permissive licenses

Restrictive

Weak Copyleft




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Copyleft

Copyright vs Copyleft

Against software hoarding Strong vs Weak Copyleft




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GNU GPL(General Public License)

Current versions: GPLv2,GPLv3

Major products licensedunder GNU GPL: Linux kernel

Almost all GNU projects

excluding libraries Java 6, Qt, KDE, MySQL,

Inkscape,




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GNU LGPL(Lesser General Public License)

Current versions: LGPLv2,LGPLv3

Major products licensedunder GNU LGPL:GNU libraries, such as

libgcc, libstdc++, etc

OpenOffice, JBoss




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MPL(Mozilla Public License)

Current version: 1.1

Major products licensed

under MPL:Mozilla Foundation products

OpenSolaris, Adobe Flex,Erlang




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pSpring 2008

Apache Software License(ASL)

Current version: 1.1, 2.0

Major products licensed

under Apache: Apache Software

Foundation products Apache HTTP Server

Huge collection of tools andlibraries




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pSpring 2008

BSD Licensesincluding MIT/X11

Very short and simple

Not a single license, but

class of licenses Major products licensed

under BSD-like licenses: All flavors of BSD operating

systems X Windows System (X11)




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BSD 3-clause License Redistributions of source code

must retain the above copyrightnotice.

Redistributions in binary form mustreproduce the above copyrightnotice.

The name of the may not be used to endorse orpromote products derived from thissoftware without specific priorwritten permission.




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GPL Compatibility What does it mean?

Why is it important?

Sourceforge.net statistics

GPL

65%

Others

20%

LGPL

9%

BSD-

like6%

FSFs free software directory

GPL

89%

Artistic

1.9%

LGPL

7%

BSD-like

2%




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Other criterias

Proprietary Software linking

Redistributing of the code with changes

Distribution of the Work




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Comparison matrix

GPL LGPL MPL3-clause

BSD, MITApache

GPL-compatible

Compatible

with GPLv3only

ProprietarySoftwarelinking

Redistributingof the codewith changes

OnlyunderGPL

Only underGPL orLPGL

OnlyunderMPL

Distributionof the Work




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Static

Linking

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Tricking GPL

libjpeg My software

GPL GPL

libjpeg Thin client

GPL GPL

My software

Commerciallicense

Static Linking

IPC




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Spring 2008

Overview




Popular licenses Comparison of licenses





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History of UNIX

- Invented UNIX in ~1969

- Licensed UNIX code to various manufacturers

- Spawned multitude of commercial UNIX derivatives

- UNIX is COMMERCIAL

Ken Thompson (seated)

Dennis Ritchie (standing)

AT&T Bell Labs



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History of UNIX

GNU + Linux Torvalds = GNU/Linux

Independently developed clone ofUNIX

GNU = GNU is Not UNIX

Linux = Linus + Minux

UC Berkeley

Heavy modifications toUNIX, cannot really beconsidered derivativework

Major movements to build a free source UNIX(1990s)



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History of UNIX

Who owns UNIX IP?

Sells To

1993

Sells To

1995

Sells to relationship is strongly simplified



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Case: SCO vs. Linux

Zeitgeist 2003

You can always sue but can you win? It might be worth the risk

- Upswing in intellectual property litigation

- Tech industry had experienced some lucrative settlements

- For example Intergraph received $450mio+$150mio from Intel in 2002



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Case: SCO vs. Linux(starts with SCO vs. IBM)

This presentation is a mix of the happenings in the press and in court

The beginning in March 2003

- Has license agreement with AT&T for UNIX

- Contributes a lot to the Linux community

- Has derivative UNIX work, AIX

- Owns UNIX IP (bought from Novell)

- Sells own Linux distribution

- Most earnings from UNIX products

- Business not going very well

- Claims IBM used UNIX IP in their Linux work

- Goes after the deep pockets!



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Case: SCO vs. Linux

May 2003

SCO: Claims Linux kernel contains SCO code (without saying exactlywhere)

Claims Linux is unauthorized derivative of UNIX

Sends angry letters to about 1500 companies

Plans on suing SuSe, RedHat and Novell (and others)


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Case: SCO vs. LinuxOutline of important events:

breach of contract, misappropriation of trade secrets

contract: does SCO really own copyright?

Buys UNIX license to support anti-Linux campaign?

Revokes IBMs UNIX license, IBM does not care

May 2003

June 2003

Fear develops over what if SCO is right?

FSF points out SCOs case is flawed due to GPL

Lawsuit has no effect on Linux deploymentsJuly 2003

Linus Torvalds backs up FSF argument

IN4MATX269: Computer LawWi t 2008


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SCO offers own Linux license ($799 per desktop)

Sues for interference with business and patent infringement

Sues for false advertising, false and deceptive practices

August 2003

October 2003

Files counterclaims picking up FSF argument

Threatens to sue individual Linux users

September 2003

GPL violates US constitution, export laws and copyright laws

Threatens to sue special effects companies in Hollywood (?) November 2003

To US Congress: GPL undermines system of IPJanuary 2004

April 2004Removes claims that GPL violates constitution in court



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Announces it will not issue more lawsuits

Drops claim of patent infringement (no money to gain)

Breach of contract. Novell entitled to 95% of income from UNIX

August 2004

Wants partial summary judgment (have not been paid)

Wants summary judgment

July 2005

October 2005

September 2006

September 2007Files for bankruptcy

Discussion goes back and forth whether SCO owns UNIX copyright

SCO has still not brought enough evidence.

Basically the end of the story.



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SCO Stock Price Development From 2003 - 2008

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Stock Price

Beginning ofLawsuit

SCO sends1500 angryletters

IBM filescounterclaims,

stating it violatedGPL and IBMscopyright

SCO sends out morewarning letters

SCO offers Linuxlicense, claimsGPL is invalid

What ifSCO isright?

GPL isvalid afterall

IBM and Novellwant summary

judgment

SCO files forbankruptcy

Novell entersgame, doubtingSCOs ownershipof UNIX



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Case: SCO vs. Linux

Summary of arguments in SCO case

SCO:

- Linux is derivative of UNIX

- GPL is invalid- Linux contains SCO code

Rest:

- UNIX IP does not entirely belong to SCO

- Code was released under GPL- Linux and SCOs common code come from thirdsource which is in public domain

- SCOs code was stolen from Linux

Basically a battle of money. In the end SCO was not able to scare the world into turningtheir backs on Linux or buying SCOs Linux license. SCO ran out of money.

IN4MATX269: Computer LawSpring 2008



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Disclaimer

We are not attorneys, and thispresentation is based upon ourinterpretations of the licenses and events,which may be incorrect. This informationhas been posted for our own use. It in noway constitutes legal advice. You shouldhire an attorney and read the licensesyourself before making any decisions.

IN4MATX269: Computer LawSpring 2008


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Referenceshttp://www.gnu.orghttp://www.opensource.org/http://www.fsf.org/http://www.wikipedia.orghttp://www.microsoft.com/resources/sharedsource/default.mspx

http://static.userland.com/userLandDiscussArchive/msg019844.html

http://developer.kde.org/documentation/licensing/licenses_summary.htmlhttp://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source_license

http://www.news.com/2100-1016-991464.htmlhttp://www.albion.com/security/intro-2.htmlhttp://www.linux.org/news/sco/timeline.htmlhttp://www.cyber.com.au/users/conz/linux_vs_sco_matrix.html

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