GPL issue at my work place

[Arnoud Engelfriet]

Dirk Dierickx wrote:
> I think that the media still has a more negative focus on OSS licenses
> as the GPL, and as a result some companies rather avoid it. If there
> were available people in the community that provide this kind of
> expertise i think that would be a great help.

I know what you mean. The GPL is a difficult concept for many companies. 

> I asked the same question to Bruce Perens, he also proposed to talk to
> them. It was the only person I knew in the OSS field with a legal
> background.

Perens helped my employer (Royal Philips) to get started with OSS,
I'm still grateful for that. If you can get him to speak at your
company, go for it!

But again: don't let him talk just to the lawyers, because that's not
the most effective way of making OSS popular in your company. You
need to convince your businesspeople that OSS is the way to go
(for at least 90% of the software, see my mixed source article).
Then, they will convince the lawyers not to get in the way.

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch & European patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/
              Arnoud blogt nu ook: http://blog.iusmentis.com/