Constitutional affairs legal affairs

Workshop: Legal aspects of free and open source software 
____________________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
49
REFERENCES 
Fondamental reading: 

 
Daffara, C., Gonzalez-Barahona, C., Jesus, M. (Ed.), (2000), Free Software/Open 
Source: Information Society Opportunities for EU, European Working group on Libre 
Software, 
http://eu.conecta.it/paper/paper.html
.  

 
Lindberg V. (2008), Intellectual Property and Open Source: A Practical Guide to 
Protecting Code, Oreilly, California, USA Fontana R., Kuhn B.M, Moglen E., Norwood M., 
Ravicher D.B., Sandler K, Vasile J., Williamson A. (2008), A Legal Issues Primer for 
Open Source and Free Software Projects, SFLC, New York, 
https://www.softwarefreedom.org/resources/2008/foss-primer.pdf 

 
Meeker H.J. (2008), The Open Source Alternative, Wiley, New Jersey, USA. 

 
Rosen L. (2005), Open Source Licensing, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, USA. 

 
Van den Brande Y., Coughlan S., Jaeger T. (2011), The International Free and Open 
Source Software Law Book, Open Source Press, Munich. 
Other references: 

 
Free Software Foundation, What is Free Software – The Free Software Definition, 
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
. 

 
Eben Moglen, Free Software Matters: Enforcing the GPL, I, 
http://moglen.law.columbia.edu/publications/lu-12.html.
 

 
B. Perens, "The Open Source Definition", Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source 
Revolution, 
http://perens.com/OSD.html
, http://opensource.org/docs/osd 

 
Carlo Piana, Licenze pubbliche di software e contratto, in I contratti, n. 7/2006, IPSOA; 
available at 
http://www.piana.eu/repository/720_727.pdf
. 

 
Eric S. Raymond, The Cathedral and the Bazaar. Musings on Linux and Open Source by 
an Accidental Revolutionary, 
http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/
. 

 
Lawrence Rosen, Bad facts make good law: the Jacobsen case and Open Source, IFOSS 
L. Rev., 1(1), pp 27 – 32. Available at 
http://www.ifosslr.org/ifosslr/article/view/5.
 

 
Sam Williams (2002), Free as in Freedom. Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free 
Software, O'Reilly, California, USA. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Carlo Piana is an Italian Information Technology lawyer and a digital freedoms activist. Based in 
Milano, Italy, and a member of the local Bar, serves as the external General Counsel for the Free 
Software Foundation Europe (
http://fsfe.org
). He is member of the Editorial Committee of the 
International Free and Open Source Software Law review (
http://ifosslr.org
), and member of the 
Board of EuroITcounsel -- a network of European lawyers specializing in IT law. For more information: 
http://www.arraylaw.eu
 
 
 

---

Policy Department C: Citizens' Rights and Constitutional Affairs 
____________________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
50
Legal aspects of free and open source software in 
procurement: guidelines developed at the EU level 
Rishab Ghosh, UNU-MERIT 
 
 
ABSTRACT 
This briefing paper examines issues around the public procurement of software distributed 
under free/open source software licenses. It looks at public procurement regulations, the 
state of current software procurement in Europe, and provides guidelines for best practices 
for public procurement of open source software. It draws on previous publications of the 
author, including the “Guideline on public procurement of Open Source Software”
 
published 
by the European Commission 
 
CONTENT
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
50
 
1
 
INTRODUCTION 51
 
2
 
PROCUREMENT PRINCIPLES 
52
 
3
 
DETERMINING ACQUISITION NEEDS 
55
 
4
 
DOWNLOADING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE 
61
 
5
 
PURCHASING OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE 
64
 
 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 
European governments are increasingly considering the use of Open Source Software (also 
known as Free Software or Libre Software, or FLOSS
78
) as a means of reducing costs and 
dependency on vendors, while increasing transparency and sustainability. A number of 
debates have taken place on the costs and benefits of open source software, and much 
discussion and interest has been expressed from the perspective of information 
technologists. 
This briefing paper is drawn from previous publications of the author, including the 
“Guideline on public procurement of Open Source Software”
 79
 published by the European 
Commission as part of the Open Source Observatory and Repository (OSOR). Here, open 
source software is considered not as a matter of technology, but as a matter of public 
procurement.  
This briefing paper explains why it may be useful for public agencies to acquire open source 
software, and more importantly, how they can do so within the current procurement 
regulations, once a decision is made. 
                                                 
78 Free Software and Open Source Software, which may be used interchangeably when referring to software, are 
defined by the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Initiative. They refer to software that is available 
under terms that allow users to use the software for any purpose; to study the software source code; to modify 
the software; and to distribute the software and modifications. See www.fsf.org and www.opensource.org 
79 Ghosh, R.A., Glott, R., Schmitz, P., Boujraf, A. (2010). Guideline on public procurement of Open Source 
Software. Brussels: European Commission 

---