Intellectual Property Law
New Matter WINTER 2015, Volume 40, Number 4
Content
- 2016 New Matter Author Submission Guidelines
- Case Comments
- Contents
- Digital Legacies: Who Owns Your Online Life After Death?
- Dmca's § 512(f) Remains Toothless in Light of Lenz Decision
- Intellectual Property Section Executive Committee 2015-2016
- Intellectual Property Section Interest Group Representatives 2015-2016
- International Ip Developments
- Letter from the Chair
- Letter from the Editor-in-Chief
- Licensing Interest Group
- MCLE Self-Study Article
- Patent Interest Group
- Software Copyright and Innovation after Oracle v. Google
- The Licensing Corner
- The State Bar of California Intellectual Property Alumni
- Trade Secrets Interest Group
- Trademark Interest Group
- Ttab Decisions and Developments
- Open Licensing: Good for the Community, Good for Business
Open Licensing: Good for the Community, Good for Business
Teri Karobonik
New Media Rights
What do SpaceX, Autodesk and Cards Against Humanity have in common?1 They are all private companies that have released some of their copyrighted content under an open license. This article will make a case for why open licensing can be a great business decision, if undertaken with proper care. This article will also give attorneys less familiar with open licensing some practical tools to help their clients openly license content.
First, this article will explore the different types of open licenses covering copyrighted content. Second, this article will discuss some of the benefits of open licensing. Finally, this article will explain common pitfalls of open licensing and practical tips on how to avoid them. While this article will not specifically focus on free and open software licenses (which are sufficiently complex to deserve an article of their own), some of the advice in the second and third sections may also be applicable to attorneys working in the free and open software license space.