You quit a mailing list, people send you links to archives.  You quit Twitter, people send you links to tweets.  You stop reading GitHub, people send

“Open Source” Is Nobody’s Property — /dev/lawyer

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2021-05-23 17:00:05

You quit a mailing list, people send you links to archives. You quit Twitter, people send you links to tweets. You stop reading GitHub, people send you links to issues. I’m tired. I need something to link to.

This is a blog post, not a formal legal opinion letter that’s free and on the Web for some reason. I will publish this and sincerely hope that I never lay eyes on it again. If you need to make a decision about whether and how to dive the “open source” grab ball, hire a lawyer, or at least do some research of your own. Don’t read one blog post you like the sound of, stop, and blame me.

Here is the part that will tempt you: I see no evidence that the Open Source Initiative has any legal power to police the phrase “open source”. I see—and am sent—plenty of insinuation to the contrary. Hence this post.

I should mention that I have an interest here. I’ve taken flak for calling licenses, projects, and business models open source without any kiss of the Initiative’s ring. I still do. And no, it doesn’t bring me down.

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