AlbertPacino
Skilled
Hoping to bring some order to the chaotic system of open-source licenses, Computer Associates International Inc. is spearheading a campaign to create a single, common open-source license to which options can be added through a template.
The Template License is designed to help address the proliferation of open-source licenses that currently existâ€â€more than 60 at last countâ€â€many of which have never been updated and are unenforceable, said Sam Greenblatt, a senior vice president at CA, in Islandia, N.Y.
The company took a hard look at its complex Trusted Open Source License and decided that it did not want to be in the licensing business.
"We want to be able to create a template that can deal with the issue of internationalization. Some 60 percent of all our Linux revenue will come from outside the United States, and some 95 percent of the [Open Source Initiative]-approved licenses are unenforceable outside the United States," Greenblatt said.
The Template License would be an overarching license that is internationally acceptable without much alteration, Greenblatt said. Open-source products would be licensed under the Template License, and a template addendum would be customized for other countries so as to meet their legal, patent and intellectual property laws. This would be done in association with a law firm local to that country. That way, the license would be enforceable in every nation where the product is sold, Greenblatt said.
Stuart Cohen, CEO of Open Source Development Labs Inc., in Beaverton, Ore., which employs Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds, confirmed his support for the Template License but said, "We don't expect to ever reach a point where one license serves all needs."
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The Template License is designed to help address the proliferation of open-source licenses that currently existâ€â€more than 60 at last countâ€â€many of which have never been updated and are unenforceable, said Sam Greenblatt, a senior vice president at CA, in Islandia, N.Y.
The company took a hard look at its complex Trusted Open Source License and decided that it did not want to be in the licensing business.
"We want to be able to create a template that can deal with the issue of internationalization. Some 60 percent of all our Linux revenue will come from outside the United States, and some 95 percent of the [Open Source Initiative]-approved licenses are unenforceable outside the United States," Greenblatt said.
The Template License would be an overarching license that is internationally acceptable without much alteration, Greenblatt said. Open-source products would be licensed under the Template License, and a template addendum would be customized for other countries so as to meet their legal, patent and intellectual property laws. This would be done in association with a law firm local to that country. That way, the license would be enforceable in every nation where the product is sold, Greenblatt said.
Stuart Cohen, CEO of Open Source Development Labs Inc., in Beaverton, Ore., which employs Linux kernel creator Linus Torvalds, confirmed his support for the Template License but said, "We don't expect to ever reach a point where one license serves all needs."
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