Open source software, used either as standalone internal solutions or integrated into in-house developed software, can give companies many advantages.
However, despite the increase in quality and availability of open source software, some companies are still apprehensive about using open source software, either due to the belief that open source obligations may “infect” other software and result in the loss of proprietary rights, or due to a misunderstanding of what rights are granted under an open source licence.
A properly implemented open source policy allows companies to gain the benefits of open source software while maintaining control over IP rights. Open source policies should include licence-specific considerations tailored to the interaction of specific open source licences and IP rights.
Open source software is software with distributed source code that any person can inspect, modify and change (compared with closed-source software, which hides source code from the end user).
The use of open source software is becoming widespread, with many of the largest software companies embracing open source software by contributing to open source projects, integrating open source into their own projects and using open source programs internally.