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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.

Contribute to OpenChain 2.0 – The New Standard for Compliance

By News

The OpenChain Project is preparing the next generation of our standard. This standard outlines the key requirements of a quality open source compliance program. The 2.0 version of OpenChain will build our the language of our currently deployed version – 1.2 – to improve ease of adoption. None of the requirements will change and all entities conformant to 1.2 will be conformant to 2.0.

We are seeking input and comments on the draft 2.0 standard. You can see the working draft of the document on our wiki and you can provide feedback via our mailing list, via our first and third Monday calls, or directly by email to coughlan@linux.com

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OpenChain Japan Work Group – Ad Hoc Meeting – 20th November

By News

The OpenChain Japan Work Group will have an ad hoc meeting at the Denso Ten Kobe offices on the 20th November. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss practical OpenChain adoption for suppliers. The event will be held in Japanese. Full Japanese details below.

OpenChain Japan Adhoc会合(神戸)を開催させて頂きます

日時:11/20(火) 14:00-16:30 (13:45開場)
場所:デンソーテン(神戸)D棟6Fポピー・パンジー
https://www.denso-ten.com/jp/company/profile/map/
入館方法は別途参加者に送付させて頂きます

Agenda(仮):
・開催のあいさつ
・OpenChainについて Shane-san
・デンソーテンの取り組みについて
・自己紹介(参加者が20名以下であれば)
・Japan WGの紹介 ★新規参加者がいなければ無し
・前回東芝会合の状況の共有 ★新規参加者がいなければ無し
Planning SG
FAQ SG
・サプライチェーン上流への説明資料作成 上田さん
★今回はここをメインにディスカッション
・まとめ

会議室の人数調整がありますので、MAXは20名程度で考えております

を yuichi.kusakabe@denso-ten.com までご連絡お願いします

Draft Proposal: One Open Source Policy Template to Rule Them All

By News

The OpenChain Project gets a lot of requests for open source policy reference examples. Moorcrofts law firm in the UK, one of our partner organizations, has stepped up with a potential “universal policy template.” We are seeking comments and feedback.

See The Template

Access the document here:

Leave a Comment

You can leave comments directly on the document or on our mailing list here:

Save the Date: OpenChain + M&A @ KPMG

By News

KPMG will host an event on the 5th of December to explore Technology Mergers & Acquisitions involving open source for buy and sell side entities. This reflects the way that open source licensing and security issues could potentially impact overall deal success if not effectively addressed. The panel will features experts from KPMG, Flexera, Adobe, O’Melveny & Myer, Wind River and the Linux Foundation’s OpenChain Project in a lively discussion around OSS management programs, legal and security issues, common pitfalls and leading practices around OSS usage.

Location

KPMG SF
55 2nd Street
Suite 1400
San Francisco, CA 94105

Register

You can register at this link.

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

By News

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

By News

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

By News

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

By News

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.