Reps, Warranties and Indemnities for OS Kernel Software Product

Ralph Bloemers robloemers at stoel.com
Tue Mar 6 01:48:41 UTC 2001


Has anyone out there seen or have familiarity with representation and warranties made in connection with the license of software that has at its core code created under the GPL but also has a component of proprietary software put on top of it that is the value added part?  

As many of you may know, in the commercial context software licensors provide a number of promises regarding copyright, patent and sometime trade secret infringement indemnities and warranties for the software that is being licensed.   For obvious reasons this makes far less sense in the OS context because the licensor is not as able to ensure that the code was not "borrowed" from elsewhere without permission because the licensor did not create the kernel of OS that comprises the product themselves and hence the risk is higher for them in making any such types of guarantees.

Any insights, thoughts or sample language would be much appreciated.






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