Landon, Then it sounds like you are setting yourself up as the middle tier project lead, doling out the monies to the developers and getting back the capabilities you desire. I don't see the liability piece really getting in the way since Franks' explanation would put the Liability issue towards the disclaimer from the project itself, not your or your clients.
One thing though, you do want to follow through and make sure your additions get passed back to the OpenSource project (officially) so you are clear of any liability/ownership stuff. Sometime this is hard to keep after , especially after you get what you wanted capability wise. I like using the notion that "we're liable if it doesn't get back into the developer/opensource project hands. Sort of using the system so to speak. bobb >>> "Landon Blake" <lbl...@ksninc.com> 04/02/09 1:59 PM >>> Bob, I'd be issuing and RFP for the work, and we would be working with another company. I hadn't thought about it, but that might alleviate some of the concern. Landon Office Phone Number: (209) 946-0268 Cell Phone Number: (209) 992-0658 -----Original Message----- From: discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org [mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Bob Basques Sent: Thursday, April 02, 2009 10:56 AM To: discuss@lists.osgeo.org Subject: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Liability Issues For Companies SupportingOpenSource Development Landon, We've wrestled with similar issues, and took the stance that we either contract with the open-source project itself, one of it's developers or just plain old donate funds on a handshake agreement. I have to admit the handshake stuff is only for small quick turnaround types of things. A biggy piece though, is for the OpenSource group to have some sort of Corporate rep that can handle the administration of larger/longer term projects. I'm involved in a non-profit (SharedGeo) related to this type of work. It seems there is a need for this knowledgeable middle level admin component for largish projects related to OpenSource. bobb >>> "Landon Blake" <lbl...@ksninc.com> 04/02/09 1:46 PM >>> I'm curious about the type if liability issues a company might open itself up to by supporting open source software development. Let me give you a scenario: A graphic design company decides it will sponsor some development of the SVG editor Inkscape. It puts out an RFP for the functionality it would like added to the program. It sets up a source code repository for these changes, hires a company/individual developer to perform the work, and works with the community to integrate the improvements back into the main development trunk. What legal liability might this introduce the company to? Is there an article or paper that discusses this question? I'm working on small business support for an open source project, and I know one of the first objections I will run into is "we don't want to be liable for any programming effort we support financially". Any suggestions? Landon Warning: Information provided via electronic media is not guaranteed against defects including translation and transmission errors. If the reader is not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this information in error, please notify the sender immediately. _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
