QUESTION
What legal liability might a software programmer volunteering in an open source project be held to?
Asked on Apr 04th, 2013 on Patents - Utah
More details to this question:
The project(s) would fall under common licensing such as the Lesser General Public License, General Public License, etc. Would it differ if they were the creator verses just a contributor? I am considering becoming a contributor to an open source project, and perhaps releasing small projects of my own, to gain experience for my resume. I am concerned about what I could be sued for and how it could be prevented or negated. I would of course have no malicious intent or copy/paste source code from any other source and claim it to be my own.a
2 ANSWERS
I don't see where the liability could come from. If you are worried about being sued for patent or copyright infringement then it is a non issue if you don't make, use, sell, distribute or import a patented software program or copy that of another's software. Just contributing to its development does not give rise to any liability. However if you accidentally copy a portion of another's software that is not designated as open source, and incorporated it into you own software you are developing then you are looking at a problem. Under patent law they would not likely sue you because there are no damages but if it is federally registered as a copyright then they may come after you for statutory damages and attorney's fees.
Answered on Apr 05th, 2013 at 2:01 PM
Intellectual Property Attorney serving South Jordan, UT
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Pearson Butler
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I would make sure not to copy anything and stop participation if I discovered someone else was copying.
Answered on Apr 05th, 2013 at 10:03 AM