The "long" version of my presentation on Distribution in Open Source at ITECHLAW Asia 2010 in Bangalore, 5 February 2010.

1. Distribution in
Open Source
Martin von Haller Groenbaek
partner, Bender von Haller Dragsted
ITECHLAW ASIA 2010
Bangalore, 5 February 2010
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2. – Attorney-at-law, Bender von Haller Dragsted
– Co-founder, Open Source Vendors Ass. (OSL)
– Editorial board IFOSSLR
– Co-founder, Creative Commons DK
– Co-founder, Danish Internet Society Chapter
– http://www.bvhd.dk
– http://www.openlife.dk
– http://www.vonhaller.dk
– http://www.linkedin.com/in/vonhaller
– http://www.23hq.com/mhg
– http://www.slideshare.net/vonhaller
– http://www.facebook.com/vonhaller
– mhg@bvhd.dk
– martin@groenbaek.net
– groenbaek@gmail.com
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3. Questions
- What is Distribution?
- Why does distribution
matter?
- Is there a business
model?
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4. Intro
- Open source gives you four rights
or freedoms
- Run the object code
- Access source code
- Modify it
- Make and transfer copies
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5. Intro
- Whether you distribute or not, you
will enjoy these four freedmos
- You can do whatever you want
with the code, as long as you don’t
distribute it
- (if within the granted user rights)
- But many of the normal
restrictions will not be applicable
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6. Intro
- If you don’t distribute none of the
normal restrictions apply
- No Copyleft
- No preservation of copyright
notices
- No preservation of license terms
- Your patents are unaffected
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7. Modification?
• Droit moral?
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8. Intro
- Distribution triggers
copyleft
- Distribution is presumed
in most OSS license
violation cases
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9. Kudos to
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10. US Copyright law
- Distribution means...
- "distribute copies...of the
copyrighted work to the public
by sale or other transfer of
ownership, or by rental, lease,
or lending" (7 USC section 106
(3))
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11. Any differences?
- US:
- Distribution is publication
- Publication is any transfer (also
private)
- Nordics:
- Distribution is publication
- But publication is not private
transfers
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12. The difference
- US: Whenever a copy changes
hand, you have distribution and
you need permission
- Nordic: You don’t need permission,
if you distribute privately
(Consumption rules apply)
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13. OSS licenses
• “Traditional” OSS licenses
are US-centric
• Notable exceptions are
EUPL and GPLv3
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14. GPL v2
- Different terms
- “distribute”
- “redistribute” (sec 6)
- “physical act of transferring a
copy” (sec 1, 3rd paragraph)
- “distribute or publish” (sec 2,litra
b. )
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15. GPL v2
- Transferring af copy regardless of
the medium
- Transfer from one person to
another
- To goal is to preserve the
freedoms
- The US concept of “distribution”
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16. Other OSS licenses
- BSD license
- “Redistribution”
- MIT License
- “Publish, distribute”
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17. Other OSS Licenses
- Apache License, Version 2.0
- “publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense,
and distribute the Work” (sec 2)
- “reproduce and distribute copies” (sec 4)
- Eclipse Public License - v 1.0
- “publicly display, publicly perform,
distribute” (Sec 2, litra a)
- Open Software License ("OSL") v. 3.0
- “distribute or communicate copies” (sec 1, litra
c)
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18. GPL v3
- To “propagate” a work means to do
anything with it that, without
permission, would make you directly
or secondarily liable for infringement
under applicable copyright law,
except executing it on a computer or
modifying a private copy. Propagation
includes copying, distribution (with or
without modification), making
available to the public, and in some
countries other activities as well
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19. GPL v3
- To “convey” a work means any
kind of propagation that enables
other parties to make or receive
copies. Mere interaction with a
user through a computer network,
with no transfer of a copy, is not
conveying.
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20. EUPL v1.1
- “Distribution and/or Communication:
any act of selling, giving, lending,
renting, distributing, communicating,
transmitting, or otherwise making
available, on-line or off-line, copies
of the Work or providing access to
its essential functionalities at the
disposal of any other natural or legal
person.” (sec 1)
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21. Creative Commons
- "Distribute" means to make
available to the public the original
and copies of the Work or
Adaptation, as appropriate,
through sale or other transfer of
ownership
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22. Rules of thumb
- Not distinctions between commercial
or non-commercial
- Physical copies must be transferred
- The transferee must be a third party
- All “public” transfers are distribution
- Some “private” transfers may not be
distribution
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23. Employees
- Not distribution
- A third party but an
agent
- A “private” distribution
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24. Subsidiaries
• 100% owned subsidiaries
• Legally a third party
• US: Probably not distribution due
to unity of ownership doctrine
• Nordic: Probably not distribution
as the transaction is not
marketbased (“private”)
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25. Contractors
- The contractor is a third party
- A physical copy is transferred (as opposed to
work on internal servers)
- US: Distribution
- Nordic: Probably a “private” transfer, thus not
a distribution
- Pay the contractor to develop your
modification on your own servers
- You cannot impose an NDA on the contractor
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26. Outsourcing
- The contractor is a third party
- A physical copy is transferred (as
opposed to work on internal
servers)
- US: Distribution
- Nordic: Probably a “private”
transfer, thus not a distribution
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27. M&A
- Only assets, not share, sales
- The acquiror is a third party
- A physical copy is transferred
- US: Distribution
- Nordic: Distribution
- But both parties share interests!
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28. ASP loophole
• Does Google release its modifications?
• Making functionality available via the
Internet is not distribution
• A physical copy of the code is not
transferred
• Copyleft is not triggered
• Network exception in GPLv3
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29. The Business model
- Dual licensing
- The copyright holder can
license under different
licenses
- Licensees that need to avoid
copyleft provisions can buy
a different license
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30. Case study
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31. Thank you for your attention
Presentation also available at
http://www.slideshare.net/vonhaller
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