Releasing Open Source to Other Agencies and the Public

Various open source licenses make requirements on the developer using the licensed code to re-release their modifications back to the community for the benefit of others.  How does this affect open source development of Government programs?  What are the different licenses and associated restrictions? This session will deal with legal issues faced by agencies when developing open source software and then releasing it back to the community  - both to other agencies and to the general public.

About the Speakers:

Van Lindberg is a software engineer and practicing attorney at Haynes and Boone. What he does most, though, is translate - from "lawyer" to "engineer" and back. He likes working with both computer code and legal code to get things done. Van is a frequent speaker and writer on open source issues. He is the author of the O'Reilly book "Intellectual Property and Open Source," as well as a contributor to an upcoming book on Open Government.

Ms. Allums has more than fifteen years of legal and policy experience as a government and corporate attorney in the areas of domestic and international intellectual property (IP), IP licensing, IP enforcement, technology, e-commerce and international trade matters. She has been a frequent speaker at intellectual property and international trade conferences around the world and has extensive experience representing the United States in bilateral and multilateral negotiations with foreign governments.

Bryan Geurts has worked in the Office of Patent Counsel at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) since 2002 and has served as Chief Patent Counsel for GSFC since 2007.  As Chief, he is responsible for the identification, protection and strategic management of all intellectual property at GSFC, including software.