[OSGeo-Discuss] Liability Issues For Companies Supporting OpenSource Development

[Bob Basques]

Landon,

We've wrestled with similar issues, and took the stance that we either contract with the open-source project itself, one of it's developers or just plain old donate funds on a handshake agreement.  I have to admit the handshake stuff is only for small quick turnaround types of things.

A biggy piece though, is for the OpenSource group to have some sort of Corporate rep that can handle the administration of larger/longer term projects.

I'm involved in a non-profit (SharedGeo) related to this type of work.  It seems there is a need for this knowledgeable middle level admin component for largish projects related to OpenSource.

bobb



>>> "Landon Blake" <lblake at ksninc.com> 04/02/09 1:46 PM >>>
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:

 

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.

 

What legal liability might this introduce the company to?

 

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".

 

Any suggestions?

 

Landon

 

 



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