Keywords

• Copyright
• Patent
• Trademark
• Innovation
• Litigation
• Intellectual property infringement

Motivation

Computer software creations are legally considered as intellectual property. Free or open-source software is no exception. Their actual protection by copyright allows for a wide variety of applicable licences, even within the relatively permissive framework of the "open source" charter. The choice of licence depends on the control or advantage the author wishes to retain over his work, and the constraints (for freedom) he wishes to impose on derived works, depending on the mode of derivation. The choice of a licence has an impact on the work's acceptance by the business world as well as on the development of contributors communities.

The current trend towards extending the scope of intellectual property raises the problem of the increasing patentability of software techniques. This trend jeopardizes innovation, and more specifically the development of free software, since the free software community (like SME's) is ill-equipped to defend itself in a world where considerable financial resources are required for patent portfolios or infringement litigation. Furthermore, as a consequence of the openness of its source code, free software is particularly vulnerable to infringement suits.

Essentially, patents on protocols and communication formats stifle competition and hinder the development of free software. In this respect, the legislation proposed by Le Déaut, Paul and Cohen supports a competitive free market economy. This encourages the development of free software by supporting open competition and interoperability over the right to private intellectual property, thereby maintaining the historical balance between public and private interests.

Given the wide variety of computers uses today, the development and adoption of free software applications is also dependent on their acceptance in commercial activities, notably through distribution networks, training programs or software modification/customizing services. In this context, the reputation of a company, as embodied through its ownership of trademarks, plays an essential role. Trademarks are also important when an author wishes to retain a measure of control, at least psychologically, over the "official" version of an application distributed as free software.

Sub-topics

• Free software and copyright
• Licences
• Software patentability, evolution and impact
• Intellectual property and interoperability - standards and competition
• Libre software and business, the role of trademarks

Program

Some talks of this topic are in French.

Friday, July 7th

Open Law : Le logiciel libre fait des petits

Pierre-Paul LEMYRE, LexUM - Centre de recherche en droit public

Abstract: The method used by jurists to develop their argumentations has hardly changed with time. As a matter of fact, jurists almost always work alone. They may sometimes break this rule but, in any case, the elaboration of juridical argumentation is a closed process.

However, today, a new mean id offered them. It consists in using what makes the strength of libre software and open source: the help of the community. This concept, called Open Law, is advocated by Lawrence Lessig and Charles Nesson at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society. Open Law aims at developing a juridical argumentation by means of open forum. The underlying hypothesis is that several minds are better than one.

However, it is obvious that all problems cannot be solved by using Open Law. Indeed, a lawyer that wishes to benefit from surprise in court has certainly no advantage in revealing his strategy on the Internet. It is thus important to evaluate the potential benefits and drawbacks of such a practice. The two on-going experiments at the Berkman Center already allow us to draw some conclusions on this matter.

Copyright vs Community in the Age of Computer Networks

Richard STALLMAN, Free Software Foundation

Abstract: this talk recalls the history of copyright and how technical innovations in the diffusion of information have changed the moral questions related to copyright.

Les licences du logiciel libre

Mélanie CLÉMENT-FONTAINE, Alcôve

Abstract: after a recall of the rule of protection of software by the right of intellectual property, one will briefly comment on the originality of the "libre" licences from the juridical point of view.

Saturday, July 8th