may the force be with you

While the use of open source software has many benefits, it brings with it a number of legal risks not posed by proprietary or commercial software. These include an increased risk of exposure to faults and intellectual property claims, and the risk of forced disclosure of confidential code.

There is no reason why agencies should not consider open source software on the same basis as commercial software. But agencies should base their decisions on the overall merits of the software concerned. This means weighing the unique legal risks of open source software together with the usual factors such as cost, functionality, interoperability and security.

To help simplify matters, this guide was prepared for the State Services Commission (SSC) by Chapmann Tripp, to help New Zealand government departments assess and mitigate the legal risks of using open source software.

source:http://www.e.govt.nz/policy/open-source/open-source-legal

# posted by dark master : 3/01/2006 10:01:00 AM