Relevance of Open Source Software Licensing and Creative Commons for Resolving Intellectual Property Issues in Today’s Knowledge Society

The movement of open source software has set in. The open source community has already recognized the fact that software production can be given a boost while developing it in an open source environment rather than closed system software model. Public domain is considered as the pool of human knowledge from where anybody can pick up an idea to generate another piece of knowledge. If the free access is restricted then creativity suffers from limitation. Open source software has attracted the attention of governments and educational institutions and Universities around the world and has created a number of user’s group. These users ’ groups are responsible to a certain extent to provide initial help to a new entrant in this school of thought. Yet, open source software is not a panacea, as one requires resolving the issues of technology insertion, flexibility, cost effectiveness, legalities concerning intellectual property and licensing. Conventional licensing fails to divulge the true nature of rights – user’s rights as well as author’s rights. Licensing of open source software can be better understood from Creative Commons ’ perspective and Intellectual Property rights perspective. Legal issues involved are also discussed and resolved