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Intellectual Property Disclosure Process, Michael Doran
2 Mar 07
The Intellectual Property Disclosure Process: Releasing Open Source Software in Academia
Michael Doran
University of Texas, Arlington
developers working for institutions likely do not own the copyright on their software, and therefore don’t have the right to release the software under open source
university will have IP office
– intellectual property disclosure process
does this IP stuff apply to me? – very likely yes
does it apply to this particular software?
– use common sense or ask
– “easier to get forgiveness than permission” will only work once, if that
a couple cautionary tales: in the first, the software is released and then (oops) the IP disclosure process is undertaken retrospectively
in the second, the UTA IP committee decides not to allow the free release (no right of appeal), decision is supported by provost; initially attempt to license back to ILS vendor, who don’t want it; then try to sell the software to other institutions directly; MD then pleads with the provost to allow him to address the committee again, and is able to explain open source in a way that they understand and the software is finally released
advice: have a plan
– find out about the process beforehand
– understand the committee’s viewpoint, generally patent/profit oriented, can’t assume they know what open source is
– work out a strategy
– be clear about what you want and why
– add context
under questioning, Doran also suggested the inclusion of a “poison pill”, which I assume would be to include some code released under GPL or better yet CC non-commercial
Posted by pzed on March 2, 2007 at 11.06am
Categories: code4lib 2007, conferences, libraries
