As a class of products and technology, open source software products have obtained significant use and market share, and compete head to head with proprietary software offerings across the entire spectrum of business applications. As a development methodology, open source software development can harness the collective efforts and creativity of a community of motivated developers and thereby produce quality and a rate of innovation equal to or better than more traditional commercial software development.

Enterprises that utilize open source effectively can reduce development time and cost as well as software licensing fees, without sacrificing quality, flexibility, usability, or other operational benefits. For these and other reasons, open source has become a transformative force within the information technology industry, and will remain so for the foreseeable future.

While open source offers tremendous potential benefits, open source software licenses create a number of potential business and legal risks for companies utilizing the software. These risks are not always insurmountable or prohibitive, but nevertheless require careful consideration and treatment to ensure that a company's use of open source software is aligned with the company's commercial strategies and the legal restrictions that the applicable licenses impose.

Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, through its Technology Transactions and its Information Technology Litigation groups, provides assistance to individuals and entities grappling with the use, distribution and commercialization of software and other technology affected by open source. In particular, we offer the following services with respect to open source:

• Advice on the strategic use of open source software
• Advice on formulation of open source compliance policies and procedures
• Advice to potential buyers and sellers on open source issues in connection with mergers and acquisitions
• Advice on and drafting of contracts for the provision of products and services relating to open source software
• In-house training and seminars on open source related legal topics for attorneys and other relevant personnel
• Litigation avoidance advice as well as litigation and alternative dispute resolution services in connection with disputes arising from the use of open source software

In connection with its provision of these services, we have formed a client education and service delivery alliance with Black Duck Software, a leading provider of software designed to enable automated examination of code to detect and identify and manage open source software, and UpStreme, Inc., a leading IT consultancy focusing on open source strategies and delivery. This alliance enables us to offer, where appropriate, interdisciplinary advice and solutions for open source issues while taking advantage of state of the art open source software detection and management applications.

For more information on these services, contact Francis X. Taney, Jr. at (215) 665-3846 or francis.taney@bipc.com or David A. Gurwin at (412) 562-1592 or david.gurwin@bipc.com.