Mark Driver

I cover the broader subject of the open source software model at Gartner.  Toward this end, I get inquiries related to things like general adoption challenges, business models, and risk factors.

One area of concern that comes up regularly in client conversations is the relationship of open source and intellectual property and licensing.  This becomes tricky territory and I quickly pull out the standard IANAL (I am not a lawyer) caveat; but legal issues are integral elements any serious discussion of open source within mainstream IT organizations.   As a result I’ve learned more about patent, copyright, IP issue in the last 10 years than I’d ever imagined or wanted.

There are LOTS of good books that cover a wide spectrum of issues related to open source software but I’ve run across a few that are quite good at distilling the complex subject of intellectual property. 

Here’s just a short list.  If you are a IT professional involved in the use or development of FOSS then these should be on your bookshelf.  If you are a developer, get your boss or corporate legal counsel to read them (easier said than done i know).

Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law by Larry Rosen. 

Understanding Open Source and Free Software Licensing by Andrew M. St. Laurent

These first two are just slightly out of date because they dont cover the GPL3 but they have tremendous value nonetheless

Intellectual Property and Open Source: A Practical Guide to Protecting Code by Van Lindberg is the latest book I’ve come across and does a fantastic job of addressing general IP issue and then applying them in the context of OSS.

Have other recommendations?  Post them here please.

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