Open source community welcomes CAFC ruling
18 August 2008
Ryan Pasquale, New York
Violation of an open source licence can be considered copyright infringement, according to a ruling last week by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC)
The ruling overturns a previous decision of the District Court for the Northern District of California.
The software in question allows train hobbyists to control model trains via a computer. At issue in the suit was the right of persons to exercise an Artistic Licence (an open source licence) over publicly sourced materials.
Matthew Katzer was accused of altering Robert Jacobsen's open source software without crediting its creator or indicating how the software had been altered.
The case, Jacobsen v Katzer, is the first time the CAFC has directly stated that violation of an open source licence can be deemed...
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