Minimizing Risk of IP Infringement in Software Licensing

A live 90-minute CLE webinar/teleconference with interactive Q&A
Sponsored by the Legal Publishing Group of Strafford Publications
Wednesday July 7, 2010 ~ 1:00pm-2:30pm EDT
Price: $297

Please note: You will be taken to the Strafford website to complete your order.

This CLE Webinar will prepare licensors and licensees of open source software to understand and cope with the legal risks of open source creation and use. The panel will provide best practices to minimize intellectual property infringement through effective licensing agreements and monitoring of open source compliance.

Description

Using open source software offers a number of benefits but also serious risks, including potential liability for intellectual property infringement. Companies creating and reusing open source software are subject to complicated legal challenges to their software licenses.

Moreover, since the Federal Circuit’s decision in Jacobsen v. Katzer, it’s clear that open source software creators can sue users that fail to comply with the licensing terms for infringement, whether or not the user paid for such use.

Counsel and copyright owners must carefully draft license agreements and monitor compliance. To avoid possible charges of copyright infringement, licensees and their counsel should manage and account for their open source use to ensure they adhere to the obligations and restrictions of the license.

Listen as our authoritative panel of IP attorneys examines the types of licenses and the legal risks associated with such licenses, open source compliance and offers best practices for open source licensing going forward.

Outline

• Open source licenses
  1. Background
  2. Type of licenses
  3. Legal risks
  4. Enforcement actions
• Compliance
  1. Complying with tenets of open source licensing
  2. Controlling use of trademarks
  3. Negotiating license provisions
• Common open source problems and best practices to address them

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key questions:

• What are the legal risks facing companies creating, using and licensing open source software?
• What provisions should be included in an open source license to protect against infringement?
• What are the best practices for licensees to ensure compliance with open source license agreements?

Following the speaker presentations, you’ll have an opportunity to get answers to your specific questions during the interactive Q&A.

Faculty

Kenneth K. Dort, Partner
McGuireWoods LLP, Chicago, Ill.
He focuses on information technology and intellectual property law issues, including software development and licensing, systems development and integration, data encryption and security, trade secret protection, and patent/copyright/trademark licensing and protection. He also advises on general corporate issues, business strategies, and related areas of information technology and IP law.

Stephen D. Gillespie, Partner
Fenwick & West, San Francisco
He provides strategic and legal advice to software, new media and technology companies. He helps structure, draft and negotiate key deals, including national and international development and distribution deals, licenses, and strategic alliances. He has significant experience in open source business models.

Register Today!
Price covers an unlimited number of staff at your office location. Can’t participate in the live seminar? A CD of the full event proceedings, including Q&A and PDF files of all handouts, will be available 10 days after the seminar.

Continuing Legal Education
Continuing Legal Education credits are granted for an additional $65 per person. Please refer to the options on the order page to take advantage of these credits.

Please note: You will be taken to the
Strafford website to complete your order.