Monthly Archives: April 2013

International Free and Open Source Software Law Review

Are you aware that among the large body of international law research there’s some dedicated solely to the legal issues surrounding free and open source software? International Free and Open Source Software Law Review covers topics ranging from licence interpretation to open standards to statuary changes and relevant case law.

Recently it published its seventh issue, aiming to inform the legal community about FOSS issues. This leading, peer reviewed, academic treatment of legal issues in this field follows the principles it analyses and debates, making the review freely reproducible for commercial or non-commercial use.

 

OSI Open Source Community Summit

OSI-RThe License Clinic for US Federal Agencies is not the only new departure for the Open Source Initiative this May. OSI is also reaching out to a wide spectrum of open source communities with its Open Source Community Summit in Washington DC on May 10 2013, where we’ll be able to gain a much fuller idea of the needs of those communities. Sponsored by Google, Red Hat and Eclipse, and chaired by OSI President Simon Phipps, this is OSI’s first Community Summit.

Attendees will explore answers to big questions faced by open source projects, both via keynotes from notable speakers and in unconference sessions. It will also be a chance to define in more depth the specific goals associated with OSI’s mission to defend, protect, educate about and promote open source. The “unconference sessions” format will create plenty of room for dialogue, so you’ll be able to bring your big ideas, interesting problems and wanted projects to the table.

Register now to be sure of a place at the first OSI Open Source Community Summit.

London Open Source Conference

It’s not too late to sign up for Open Source, Open Standards 2013 in London this Thursday. Chaired by our own Simon Phipps, the conference starts with a keynote from the UK government’s open source policy lead Tariq Rashid and includes speakers from the Met Office, the Government Digital Service and the London Borough of Camden.

 

Patent Defences For The Rest Of Us

The patent system as it stands today could use a general overhaul. We need to see fundamental shifts in society’s understanding of the reasons for and uses of patents. But in the mean time there are all manner of companies, (from the small to the very large) facing patent threats right now.

What defences can be mustered against the trolls and the corporate aggressors defending their legacy control? Open Invention Network plays the broken system to protect the open source community from software patents. Read more in our InfoWorld article today.

 

Another Meshed OIN Licensee

After an introduction to Open Invention Network by Meshed Insights Ltd, the fast-growing US open source professional services company Open Software Integrators llc have signed up as licensees to join the mesh of mutual patent defence OIN offers.  Congratulations, and welcome!

Thinking Of Starting A Foundation?

Open source projects are increasingly opting to form an independent entity – a “Foundation” – to form the core of their community, rather than relying on goodwill or corporate oversight. Foundations often hold shared assets such as money, trademarks and copyrights, provide infrastructure, and sometimes employ staff.

The idea is seductive, but it’s not as easy as it sounds. A Foundation can’t solve your community problems; it can only make firm the solutions you devise, by providing a canvas on which to paint the trust and governance you have all agreed and to guarantee it for future generations of your community. You need to solve the problems first.

Continue reading →

Migration Needs A Plan

Do open source mandates work?  Plenty of entities have tried to apply an open source mandate, requiring use particularly of open source office suites like LibreOffice. But it takes more than just a decision or a mandate; to successfully gain the benefits of open source in the enterprise, you also need a thoughtful migration plan. Read about this in our article today at Linux Advocates.

OSCON Speaker

Simon has had a talk accepted once again at the iconic Open Source Convention, OSCON. He’s spoken there many times before, including twice as a keynote speaker and this year is sharing experiences of corporations engaging with open source communities – from both sides of the fence. His talk “Can Evil Corporations Embrace Open Source?“, is scheduled for the Thursday morning of OSCON.

Joining Open Invention Network

Open Invention Network is a novel company formed to operate patent defenses for open source developers. It owns a portfolio of patents relevant to key open source technologies, runs a defensive publication scheme and operates a patent cross-licensing network of well over 500 companies. I’m pleased to announce that Meshed Insights has joined the Open Invention Network as a licensee in that network. This move both demonstrates our commitment to minimising patent risks throughout the open source community and also offers us some protection against patent aggression.

We have also reached an agreement with OIN to represent them at mutually agreed events and to assist clients in themselves becoming Open Invention Network licensees. If you are interested in becoming a licensee, which you most likely will be able to do free of charge, please contact us.

Welcome!

Welcome to Meshed Insights!  Founded in 2012 by Simon Phipps, we are a management consulting, community engagement and editorial content company focussing on Free and Open Source software. We help

  • communities build and change governance and licensing;
  • companies evolve their business strategy to responsibly benefit from open source;
  • publications deliver insights on open source, open standards and digital rights to their audiences.

If you need any of these services, please do get in touch!