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<DIV><SPAN class=747245520-02042009><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2>I
wonder if the California State Department of Boating and Waterways support of
Starspan (see </FONT></SPAN><SPAN class=747245520-02042009><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff size=2><A
href="http://starspan.casil.ucdavis.edu/doku/doku.php">http://starspan.casil.ucdavis.edu/doku/doku.php</A>)
might give you a lead.</FONT></SPAN></DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=747245520-02042009><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </DIV>
<DIV><SPAN class=747245520-02042009>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P><B><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Bob
Moskovitz</SPAN></B> <BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Research Analyst
I</SPAN></B> <BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Seismic Hazard Zonation
Project</SPAN></B><BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">California Geological
Survey</SPAN></B> <BR><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: blue; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">http://www.conservation.ca.gov/cgs/shzp</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="COLOR: blue"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt; COLOR: gray; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">CONFIDENTIALITY
NOTICE: This communication is intended only for the use of the individual or
entity to which it is addressed. This message contains information from the
State of California, California Geological Survey, which may be privileged,
confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law, including the
Electronic Communications Privacy Act. If the reader of this communication is
not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination,
distribution, or copying of this communication is strictly
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<DIV><SPAN class=747245520-02042009></SPAN><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=747245520-02042009><FONT face=Arial
color=#0000ff> </FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tahoma><FONT size=2><SPAN
class=747245520-02042009> </SPAN>-----Original Message-----<BR><B>From:</B>
discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org]<B>On
Behalf Of </B>Landon Blake<BR><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, April 02, 2009 11:45
AM<BR><B>To:</B> OSGeo Discussions<BR><B>Subject:</B> [OSGeo-Discuss] Liability
Issues For Companies Supporting OpenSource
Development<BR><BR></DIV></FONT></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid"><!--ppd1000033-->
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I’m curious about the type if
liability issues a company might open itself up to by supporting open source
software development. Let me give you a scenario:<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">A graphic design company decides
it will sponsor some development of the SVG editor Inkscape. It puts out an
RFP for the functionality it would like added to the program. It sets up a
source code repository for these changes, hires a company/individual developer
to perform the work, and works with the community to integrate the
improvements back into the main development
trunk.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">What legal liability might this
introduce the company to?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Is there an article or paper that
discusses this question? I’m working on small business support for an open
source project, and I know one of the first objections I will run into is “we
don’t want to be liable for any programming effort we support
financially”.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Any
suggestions?<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Landon<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P></DIV><BR><BR><FONT
face=Arial><FONT size=1><STRONG>Warning:<BR></STRONG>Information provided via
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