Launched just over a year ago, Waltham, Massachusetts-based Black Duck provides the protexIP suite of development and license management software enables developers to ensure that their software complies with licensing and intellectual property requirements.
The issue has become increasingly important in open source development since SCO Group Inc claimed that Linux contains parts of its Unix System V code. The accuracy of that claim is currently in the judicial process, but in the meantime the OSDL is attempting to tighten up the legal controls around the Linux development process.
Black Duck is helping the Linux industry gain more peace of mind about running open source software, said OSDL CEO, Stuart Cohen, on Black Duck’s membership of the organization.
Black Duck is expected to contribute to the OSDL’s initiatives around legal issues, while the company’s executive vice president and legal counsel, Karen Copenhaver, and director of consulting services, Kevin Bedell, will present tutorials on open source software use, licensing, and best practices at the forthcoming OSDL Enterprise Linux Summit.
The OSDL, which employs Linux creator and head developer Linus Torvalds, has taken a number of steps in recent years to improve the image of the Linux development process. In December 2003 it took the decision to explain how the Linux kernel development process works.
The company followed that up in January 2004 with the creation of a $10 million Linux legal fighting fund for customers using Linux that became legal targets for SCO, while in August 2004 it hired an in-house general counsel to focus on industry legal issues such as intellectual property, patents, and copyright.
