Open Source Indemnification: Why You Should Care
With the recent rise in software copyright claims filed (such as Oracle’s lawsuit against Google for copyright/patent infringement related to Java), companies are realizing more than ever that indemnification protection against costly lawsuits is important. Oracle is just one example among many - see more IP infringement cases put together by Protecode here . With many of ActiveState’s customers, the discussion around levels of indemnification in an Enterprise or OEM contract often gets passed to compliance officers or lawyers. But even legal counsel in companies aren’t always well-versed in the differences between indemnification for proprietary products and those based on open source. Indemnification: Proprietary vs. Open Source With proprietary software , a vendor can very simply provide indemnification as part of a standard agreement, because they have full control and copyright over the product and underlying code. With open source products, there are mu