SFLC Publishes Legal Guide on FOSS

The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC), who describe themselves as a "provider of pro-bono legal services to protect and advance Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)", today published a very useful in-depth primer that introduces the reader to the legal issues related to FOSS. See it here.

This web-based guide was written by members of SFLC's staff to cover "a variety of legal topics and their practical application to free software development". These topics include copyrights and licensing, organizational structure, patents, and trademarks.

Its a very helpful primer that is potentially helpful to newbies and advanced practitioners alike.

Good News on Patent Reform

Earlier this past week, the House Judiciary Committee approved the Patent Reform Act of 2007, as amended, by voice vote. On Thursday night the Senate Judiciary Committee passed an amended version of the Patent Reform Act of 2007 by a vote of 13-5:

• The YES votes were Leahy, Kennedy, Biden, Kohl, Feinstein, Schumer, Durbin, Cardin, Whitehouse, Specter, Sessions, Graham, and Cornyn

• The NO votes were Feingold, Grassley, Kyl, Brownback, and Coburn.

Kudos to Ranking Judiciary Committee Member Congressman Lamar Smith who sponsored this important reform, and Massachusetts Senator Kennedy and Congressman Delahunt to supported and voted for it.

The legislation was supported by the technology super-powers as well (See entry on July 11, 2007 below) because it helped prevent frivolous patents, reduced legal costs, and introduced more balance into the defendants’ versus plaintiffs’ rights equation.

Next stop: The House Floor. The Patent Reform Act still must be approved by the full House. The US Senate has its own version of patent reform in process. Once both bills pass they must then be “resolved” in a joint Senate/House committee prior to the president’s signature.

Patent Reform: “One man’s meat is another man’s poison”

Tomorrow a hearing is set in the House to consider Rep. Lamar Smith’s (Republican, Texas) patent reform legislation (Patent Reform Act of 2005). There is a 50/50 chance that it will be brought up for a vote. It has a little something for everyone and everyone will be a little disappointed. A similar bill is being considered in the Senate sponsored Orrin Hatch (Republican, Utah). The two proposals will have to go to conference committee to reconcile the differences as a next step.

One controversial provision of the Smith bill will grant a patent on a “first to submit basis” – a standard that's common outside the United States.

Open-source advocates, such as the FSF, claim the Smith bill will do nothing to stem the rising tide of software patents being issued by the US PTO. The PTO itself, these advocates assert, need the most radical reformation. Technology companies hope this bill will the stem the tide of expensive litigation, while independent inventors complain that large companies with deep patent lawyer teams will be able to win the patent filing race. (“"The companies who are complaining about the system are bad players, crooks who took great liberties with others' inventions," Ronald Riley, President, Professional Inventors Alliance.)

Rep. Smith is trying to drive this bill through the House by year's end. If it does not fly, it won’t be considered until after the '08 presidential election. While the technology super-powers (Microsoft, Apple Computer, Intel, Oracle and Hewlett-Packard) are pushing for this reform, they are offset by pharmaceutical companies who are pushing against this reform.

It is interesting to watch players who typically do not work well together coordinating on this issue. It is equally interesting to see the FSF/GNU community not supporting these generally positive reforms.