Security · · Davi Netto
Intellectual property, open-source software and your business continuity
Open-source software also has an owner and a license. Here are four precautions so that intellectual property doesn't threaten your company's systems.
What are intellectual property rights?
Intellectual property is a concept covering the rights over knowledge products and/or processes, tangible or intangible. It applies to products of human creation and aims to protect their author and the right to use them to generate profit. Very common examples of intellectual property are computer programs (software), documents, projects, brands, patents and licensing of application source code.
The system I use is open source, so I don’t need to worry, right?
Wrong. Just because a system is open source doesn’t mean its author has given up their intellectual property rights. There are many types of license associated with open-source software that govern how it can be copied, used and sold.
Here’s a list of some of the most common open-source software licenses:
- Apache License 2.0
- BSD 3-Clause “New” or “Revised” license
- BSD 2-Clause “Simplified” or “FreeBSD” license
- GNU General Public License (GPL) v3.0
- GNU Library or “Lesser” General Public License (LGPL)
- MIT license
- Mozilla Public License 2.0
- Common Development and Distribution License
- Eclipse Public License
- Creative Commons License
What precautions should my company take?
A policy specific to this topic isn’t necessary, but it’s important to formalize and ensure the company’s compliance regarding the use of proprietary systems. Here are 4 practical steps your company should take:
Keep a record of the company’s software assets
It’s common to document a company’s physical assets, but intangible assets are often forgotten, despite their great value. Document and keep track of the licenses you’ve acquired and their expiry/renewal dates to avoid future problems with expired licenses, fines and interrupted operations.
Pay attention to the licenses of the software you use
Only work with reputable software. Systems with a dubious reputation may include predatory policies that give the system’s owner intellectual rights over any material produced with it.
A highly controversial change to terms of use involved the Map Maker software from game developer Blizzard. The change granted Blizzard intellectual rights over any creation made within its platform. It angered the user community so much that many abandoned the platform altogether. Here’s the full excerpt of the policy:
“User Content” means any communications, images, sounds, and all the material and information that you upload or transmit through a Game client or the Service, or that other users upload or transmit, including without limitation any chat text. You hereby grant Blizzard a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, paid-up, non-exclusive, license, including the right to sublicense to third parties, and right to reproduce, fix, adapt, modify, translate, reformat, create derivative works from, manufacture, introduce into circulation, publish, distribute, sell, license, sublicense, transfer, rent, lease, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, or provide access to electronically, broadcast, communicate to the public by telecommunication, display, perform, enter into computer memory, and use and practice such User Content as well as all modified and derivative works thereof. To the extent permitted by applicable laws, you hereby waive any moral rights you may have in any User Content.” – Battle.net Terms of Service
Make employees aware of the rules on proprietary software
Everyone knows someone who knows how to activate Windows and Microsoft Office or download movies and programs for free. This may be happening on a computer in your company without you knowing! Often the employee doesn’t even know they’re breaking a law, and ends up putting the company at risk.
Raising employees’ awareness is essential so that intellectual property violations don’t put the company at legal risk.
Pay extra attention to technology developed in-house
At development companies, who owns the source code? The company or the programmers? Intellectual property at software development companies must be clearly defined in company policies, so that it isn’t settled in a dispute where the outcome may displease one of the parties.
