| Linux Foundation adds legal eagles |
Aug. 14, 2007
SAN FRANCISCO—Once upon a time, the only thing Linux needed was great coders. That was a long time ago. Today, Linux needs excellent lawyers as well to navigate the 21st century's increasingly lawsuit-happy IT world. To address that concern, the LF (Linux Foundation) has added two top attorneys to its ranks.
Last week, at LinuxWorld in San Francisco, LF, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux, announced that open-source licensing expert Karen Copenhaver and standards and consortium expert Andy Updegrove have joined the Foundation's legal team to provide leadership on legal issues affecting Linux.
Protecting Linux is one of LF's three focus areas. Later this year, the LF legal team will lead a multi-day legal strategy summit for members' in-house counsel, including legal representatives from HP, IBM, Intel and Novell. At this invitation-only meeting, member counsel will focus on the issues of greatest common interest and concern, including agreeing upon the next steps towards building a legal defense infrastructure for Linux. Community-wide events are also planned to provide a platform for discussion and education on legal issues. The LF supports a wide range of legal support functions, including managing the Linux trademark, initiatives such as the Open Source as Prior Art project, the Patent Commons, sponsorship of the Linux Legal Defense Fund, and further programs now under development.
"I'm extremely pleased to put together this legal dream team," said Jim Zemlin, Linux Foundation's executive director. "Promoting accurate and timely discussion of the legal infrastructure supporting the adoption and deployment of open-source software is key to achieving our core mission. Karen and Andy bring a depth of expertise to the Foundation and a passion for open source and open standards that will enhance the conversation immeasurably and provide guidance in the development of innovative programs to protect Linux against legal challenges. With Karen and Andy onboard, we now have a well-stocked arsenal."
At LF, Copenhaver and Updegrove will provide Linux companies, organizations and developers with important information on licenses, standards and patent issues, reducing confusion and fostering further innovation and adoption of Linux. The two will lead and implement all legal LF programs and will provide commentary and analysis on legal issues facing Linux. They will also work to coordinate member company legal resources to best respond to issues facing the platform.
"The Linux Foundation is a natural forum for advancing the discussion and understanding of legal issues facing open and closed software. A key component of our program will be to bring together members' legal staffs, which provide a deep well of expertise in a very important area, to share ideas and drive initiatives," said Copenhaver. "I'm looking forward to working with my colleagues across the member companies and communities to boil down legal topics related to Linux to the simple, straightforward matters that they really are and to identifying and implementing best practices that support open-source adoption."
Copenhaver is a partner in Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP's Business & Technology practice focusing on technology transfer and licensing of intellectual property with a specific emphasis on open-source business models. Before that, Copenhaver served as executive vice president and general counsel at Black Duck Software, the open-source-license-compliant company.
Updegrove is a partner and founder of Gesmer Updegrove LLP, a Boston-based technology law firm. He is also well-known for his work in publicizing open-standard issues at his ConsortiumInfo.org site and the widely read Standards Blog. He is also an At Large Director of the Linux Foundation, and his law firm acts as the Linux Foundation's outside legal counsel.
"The Linux Foundation provides an essential function to protect, promote and standardize Linux," said Updegrove. "Reconciling the intellectual property requirements of open source and open standards is a crucial stepping stone for both, and the Linux Foundation is the first organization to accomplish this. I look forward to contributing to the Linux ecosystem by helping the Foundation continue to lead the way in this and other areas."
These staff additions build on LF's recent addition of Markus Rex as its CTO. Rex was previously vice president and general manager for SUSE Linux and CTO for the Open Platform Solutions Group at Novell. With these additional team members, the LF now has an experienced executive team focused on accelerating the adoption of Linux.
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
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