äki The Rise of O pen Source Licensing

— has changed soĞ ware business as we knew it. New start-ups have challenged industry heavyweights from MicrosoĞ to Oracle with inno-vative copyright licensing strategies and courageous anti-patent policies. Almost every major soĞ ware company has been forced to react to the commodifi cation trend. Drawing from detailed case studies, historical narrative and the ap-plication of economic theory, this book shows how open source licensing is used for strategic advantage. SoĞ ware developers enter open source to distribute their work more effi ciently and increase innovation. SoĞ ware is no longer property, they say. Interestingly, everything has worked despite — rather than because of — ever-expanding intellectual property rights. Is there a limit? In the United States, the headline cases by SCO against Linux supporters and users opened the surface of intellectual property infringement risks. In Europe, there is ongoing public debate about the impact of soĞ ware patents on open source. This book goes beyond fear an