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Shane Coughlan

Shane Coughlan is an expert in communication, security and business development. His professional accomplishments include spearheading the licensing team that elevated Open Invention Network into the largest patent non-aggression community in history, establishing the leading professional network of Open Source legal experts and aligning stakeholders to launch both the first law journal and the first law book dedicated to Open Source. Shane has extensive knowledge of Open Source governance, internal process development, supply chain management and community building. His experience includes engagement with the enterprise, embedded, mobile and automotive industries.

OpenChain Specification 1.2 in Hindi

By News

The OpenChain Specification version 1.2 has been translated into Hindi. This is an official translation with peer review. It is ready to be used for local conformance activities.

The team behind this translation includes Shuvajit Mitra at Infosys with review from Chandana Rao at Cognizant and Renjish Kumar at Wipro.

You can obtain a copy of this translation in PDF format here:

You can find this and all other translation from the OpenChain Project here:

You can get support for this translation and all other aspects of the OpenChain Project by contacting our mailing list here:

Want to contribute? This translation is a Github project:

Get this guide and many more documents in the OpenChain Reference Library: https://github.com/OpenChain-Project/Reference-Material

OpenChain Specification 1.2 in German

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The OpenChain Specification version 1.2 has been translated into German. This is an official translation with peer review. It is ready to be used for local conformance activities.

The team behind this translation includes Miriam Ballhausen, Stefan Thanheiser, Jan Thielscher and Daniel Wulle. The reviewer of the translation was Stefanie Pors. The maintainer of this translation is Catharina Maracke.

You can obtain a copy of this translation in PDF format here:

You can find this and all other translation from the OpenChain Project here:

You can get support for this translation and all other aspects of the OpenChain Project by contacting our mailing list here:

Want to contribute? This translation is a Github project:

Get these guides and many more documents in the OpenChain Reference Library.

RFC: OpenChain Curriculum @ Argentina

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Gustavo G. Mármol Alioto has shared proposed localization of the OpenChain Curriculum Reference Training Slides for Argentina. This material is intended to help those located in Argentina with an interest in OpenChain adoption. The proposal is to add an “interchangeable or removable slide” to the OpenChain Curriculum Reference Training Slides for the OpenChain Specification 1.2. It would be added adjacent to Slide 8 in “Chapter 1: What is Intellectual Property?”. This new slide would be accompanied by an additional chart that compares aspects of US and Argentina Copyright Law to facilitate understanding.

How can you help? Please review the material and provide comments. You can provide feedback via our mailing list or directly on the Github repository.

Our mailing list is here:

Get these guides and many more documents in the OpenChain Reference Library.

The original OpenChain Curriculum Reference Training deck is here:

The proposed new slide is here:

The comparison between US and Argentinean copyright law is here:

The project Github repository is here:

FAQ

a) Does the “Comparative Chart” (US- Argentina) constitutes a “final version”?

No, it does not. The comparative chart (US- Argentina) already sent constitutes only an expression in “draft” of an idea that I´ve prepared being a non-US attorney, so it would be much appreciated if US-attorneys from the list can review it. The comparative´s draft should contain some interested “key concept” approved by the list members, that someone being located in Argentina (or any other jurisdiction) probably be interested to know when reviewing the potential adoption of the Open Chain Specification.

b) What reasons you may have to think that people located in Argentina might be interested in having a “comparative chart”?

The idea behind is that helps in the adoption of the Open Chain Specification in Argentina.

I believe that open source technology is a global phenomenon, but its licensing and its ethic compliance, very, unfortunately, is not well known around the world equally. Dealing with open source licensing regarding inbound and outbound rights/obligations it does not constitutes an easy task, and when rules are not known or interpreted according to some of the principles already developed in the industry, the thing can be even worst.

The Curriculum material training has been prepared taking into account the US Law (Copyright, Patents, etc), but it is crystal clear that some concepts provided in their slides such us “distribution” and “derivatives works” should be interpreted taking into account the local law, (most when in the same US the FOSS community have some disagreement). Well, thinking that a “little help can help a lot” a comparative chart that takes some key concepts from both legal systems might help in the adoption of the Open Chain Specification. But how?. Well, just providing some concepts and showing that there are not so many differences between both systems.

In another hand, a secondary goal could be to reduce the gap between “two open chain specification adopted in different countries”. The comparative chart can help in some of the topics that are not considered by the local commercial practice (i.e. Is the literal copying of a significant portion of “source code” always sufficient to establish that a second work is a derivative work of an original program?. Can a second work be a derivative work of an original program even though absolutely no copying of the literal source code of the original program has been made?. )

c) So, what would be the “comparative chart” goal?

As stated above the main objective is to contribute or help in the adoption of the Open Chain Specification in Argentina by explaining a few key point approved by the member list, that the differences of both legal systems are not substantial at the point that with the comparative chart the legal departments do not object their review just because the Curriculum training materials state: “These slides follow US law. Different legal jurisdictions may have different legal requirements. This should be taken into account when using these slides as part of a compliance training program”.

Welcoming The Center for Research and Development Hong Kong (CRD-HK) to the OpenChain Community of Conformance

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The OpenChain Project is delighted to welcome The Center for Research and Development Hong Kong (CRD-HK) to our community of conformance. CRD-HK focuses on the selection of Exceptional Research Projects in collaboration with Fellow Scholars, Principal Investigators and Universities with a goal of making outcomes accessible to a wide audience under the principles of Open Data.

“To ensure quality FOSS compliance, the OpenChain Specification is a critical component of our open source licenses. By joining the OpenChain Community and using its Self-Certification service, we conform to consistent compliance management processes in the open source software supply chain,” says Raymund Kenrick David-Kho, Program Director for The Center for Research and Development Hong Kong (CRD-HK). “We are pleased to be part of the OpenChain community.”

“The OpenChain Project maintains the industry standard for open source compliance in the supply chain. By identifying the key requirements of quality open source compliance programs we are helping organizations of all types and sizes use open source more effectively,” says Shane Coughlan, General Manager of the OpenChain Project. “It is a great pleasure to collaborate with a research institute promoting Open Data, and we look forward to building on this relationship to collaborate with other researchers in Hong Kong, Taipei, Shenzhen, Beijing and beyond.”

Learn More:

The OpenChain Q4 2018 Survey – Tell Your Friends

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This is the big one! We have created an OpenChain usability survey. We are asking for everyone interested in open source compliance to take a moment and let us know how we are doing / what can be improved in the future.

The survey covers general interaction with the project, conformance and internationalization. It should take between 1 and 3 minutes to complete. Please also share this survey internally and externally to any party that might be interested in OpenChain. We will be using feedback to help shape our activities in 2019.

Link to the Survey

No sign in, no personal details required. This survey will run until November 30th.

OpenChain Overview Slides Updated

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The OpenChain Overview Slides have been updated, providing our latest (and best) introduction to the project, to our industry standard and to our educational material. These slides are available in PDF, PPTX and ODP formats under the CC Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (you can share these slides freely). The PPTX and ODP versions contains extensive speaker notes.

Questions, comments and suggestions? You can reach out to the project on our main mailing list here:

You can also join one of our bi-weekly calls. Details to join here:

Get the Slides:

Get these guides and many more documents in the OpenChain Reference Library.

OpenChain @ Software Compliance Academy Seminar – 16th November

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Software Compliance Academy, one of OpenChain’s pilot program partners, is hosting an open source seminar on the 16th of November in Munich. This event will include information on OpenChain and will provide a suitable onboarding point for organizations interested in participation. All interested parties can register for the event by reaching out to Catharina Maracke at cmaracke@scompliance.com.

Event Overview in German:

Hiermit moechte ich Sie gerne auf ein Seminar der Software Compliance Academy in Berlin am 16.11.2018 hinweisen, welches neben den rechtlichen Grundlagen zum Thema Open Source Compliance auch einen vertieften Einblick in die Möglichkeiten des Software Scanning und Lizenzmanagement geben wird. Im Mittelpunkt der Veranstaltung stehen dabei die folgenden Fragen:
– Welche rechtlichen Fragestellungen wirft das Open Source Lizenzmodell auf?
– Welche Anforderungen sind an das Lizenzmanagement und an interne Prozessabläufe zu stellen?
– Welchen Mehrwert kann der Einsatz sogenannter Software Scanning Tools oder Software Lizenzmanagement Tools bringen?
Das detaillierte Programm finden Sie unter diesem Link:
https://www.scompliance.com/files/uploads/seminare/FOSSCompliance16112018.pdf
Bei Fragen oder Hinweisen steht Ihnen die Ansprechpartnerin der Software Compliance Academy, Catharina Maracke (cmaracke@scompliance.com) jederzeit gern zur Verfügung.

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OpenChain Japan Work Group – Sixth Meeting – 31st October

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The OpenChain Japan Work Group held its sixth meeting on the 31st of December at the Toshiba / Lazona Kawasaki Building. This meeting featured 49 participants from 24 organizations, continuing our tradition of building out a broad and active local community. It was also the first meeting dedicated to the new subgroups and milestones for 2019.

You can read the minutes of this meeting in English here:

You can read the minutes of this meeting in Japanese here:

Outline of key talks and guided discussions during the event:

  1. Our motivations to get involve into OpenChain (Y. Kobayashi (Toshiba))
  2. OpenChain and Japan Work Group reviews (N. Imada (Hitachi))
  3. Sub WG1: Planning Sub WG status report (H. Fukuchi, A. Yamaoka (Sony))
  4. Sub WG2: Proposal to publish a leaflet for upper supply chain (S. Ueda (Sony))
  5. Sub WG3: Proposal to publish FAQ (Y. Ouchi (Fujitsu))
  6. Case study: “Question sheet about OSS usage” (S. Koizumi (Olympus))
  7. Proposal of our next plan and new Sub WGs (H. Fukuchi (Sony))
  8. Report: OpenChain workshop at ELC-E (S. Tokumoto (Fujitsu), S. Kato (Panasonic))

Forthcoming face-to-face meetings:

  • 2018/12/5 The seventh meeting will be held on Dec. 5, 2018.
    • Venue: TUV SUD Japan Office at Shinjuku(Tokyo)
  • 2019/2/28 The eighth meeting will be held on Feb. 28, 2019.
    • Venue: Mitsubishi Electric Head Office at Chiyoda(Tokyo)
  • 2019/4/xx The ninth meeting will be held on April, 2019.
    • Venue: Denso-Ten Office at Kobe(Hyogo)
  • 2018/12/5 第7回会合 2018125日(水)  
    • 場所:テュフズードジャパン(東京都新宿区)
  • 2019/2/28 第8回会合 2019228()
    • 場所:三菱電機 本社(東京都千代田区)
  • 2019/4/xx 第9回会合(計画中) 20194xx(x)
    • 場所:デンソーテン(兵庫県神戸市)計画中

Learn More:

OpenChain Japan Work Group – Milestones for the Future

By News

The OpenChain Japan Work Group has been planning a series of milestones for 2018 and 2019 via three new subgroups. These milestones include the creation of extensive guidance material regarding OpenChain adoption, inter-company communication, and open source policies. As with all OpenChain Curriculum material these documents are made available under CC-0 licensing for use, remixing and sharing for any purpose.

To learn more about this specific initiative see the slides below in English and Japanese. You can also be part of this activity via the OpenChain Japan mailing list or by attending any of the meetings hosted by our Japanese community members.

Curious about the titles, hosts and participants of each subgroup?

サブグループ活動 / Subgroups

  • Planning subgroup
    • Team Lead: Hiroyuki Fukuchi
    • Members: Teppei Asaba, Mutsumi Abe, Nobuo Imada, Satoru Ueda, Masato Endo, Yoshiko Ohuchi,Satoru Koizumi, Norio Kobota, Shinsuke Kato, Hiroshi Nozue, Yuji Nomura, Atsuhiro Yamaoka, Ayumi Watanabe
  • FAQ subgroup
    • Team Lead: Yoshiko Ohuchi (Fujitsu)
    • Members: Shuichi Awaji, Teruaki Itoh, Satoru Ueda, Masato Endo, Kazuyoshi Katagiri, Tomoki Kawamura, Manami Koshino, Norio Kobota, Naomichi Shima, Toru Taima, Shinichi Tanigawa, Hiroyuki Fukuchi, Yoshihiro Yasuda, Atsuhiro Yamaoka, Masato Yoshii
  • Leaflet for Sales subgroup
    • Team Lead: Satoru Ueda
    • Members: Teruaki Itoh, Kiyoshi Owada, Shisuke Kato
  • Planning サブグループ
    • チームリード:福地弘行
    • メンバー:浅羽鉄平、阿部睦、今田律夫、上田理、遠藤雅人、大内佳子、小泉悟、小保田規生、加藤慎介、野末浩志、野村祐治、山岡厚仁、渡邊歩
  • FAQ サブグループ
    • チームリード:大内佳子(富士通)
    • メンバー:淡路修一、伊藤輝昭、上田理、遠藤雅人、片桐和宣、川村知生、越野愛美、小保田規生、島直道、當麻徹、谷川真一、福地弘行、安田佳宏、山岡厚仁、吉井雅人
  • 営業向けリーフレット サブグループ
    • チームリード:上田理
    • メンバー:伊藤輝昭、大和田清志、加藤慎介

Learn More

Get these guides and many more documents in the OpenChain Reference Library.

OpenChain Japan Work Group – Meeting # 6

By News

The OpenChain Japan Work Group held its sixth meeting on the 31st of October between 2pm and 4:45pm at Toshiba Smart Community Center in Kanazawa. As with the previous five OpenChain Japan Work Group meetings discussion is expected to include a mix of structured reports, activity planning and case studies.

The Schedule

14:00  (5min)   Opening- H.Nozue
14:05  (10min)  Keynote: OpenChain Project updates – S.Coughlan
14:15  (20min)  Keynote: OpenChain and Toshiba activities- Y.Kobayashi
14:35  (10min)  OpenChain and Japan WG basic reviews- N.Imada
14:45  (40min)  Reports: SubWGs status (10minx3 + Q&C 10min)
– Planning SubWG status – H.Fukuchi, A.Yamaoka
– Level defined education (Ueda-san’s project) – TBD
– FAQ for beginners (Ouchi-san’s project) – K.Ouchi
– Questions & Comments
15:25 – 15:40 – break
15:40  (15min)  Case Study: “Form for clearing OSS usage” – S.Koizumi
15:55  (25min)  Discussion: next plan and new subWG proposal – H.Fukuchi
16:20  (20min)  Special Report: “OpenChain workshop @ ELC-E” – S.Kato,
T.Ueba
16:40  (5min) Announcement of Next meeting and Open Compliance Summit
16:45 – Closing

It is impossible to overstate the importance of the OpenChain Japan Work Group. This incredible team has built out one of the largest and most active open source compliance communities. Best of all, it is completely open, and has great gatherings every two months.

This year we held meetings at Sony, Hitachi, Panasonic, Toyota, Fujitsu and Toshiba; TUV SUD Japan is scheduled for December. The meeting schedule for first half 2019 has already been published.

Learn More