Workshop: Legal aspects of free
and open source software
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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
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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