Ville Oksanen

Open source legality patterns: architectural design decisions motivated by legal concerns

Complications emerge when various open source software components, governed by different licenses, are used in the same software system. For various reasons, these licenses introduce different privileges and requirements on the use and distribution of composed code, and are therefore often fundamentally incompatible with each other when combined arbitrarily. Consequently the way the different components can be integrated requires attention at the level of software architecture. In this paper, we introduce open source legality patterns -- architectural design decisions motivated by legal concerns associated with open source licensing issues and licenses themselves. Towards the end of the paper, we also review some related work and discuss why it is important to create common guidelines for designs that mix and match different open source systems and proprietary software, and provide directions for future work.

DRM Interoperability and Intellectual Property Policy in Europe

Apples dominating music downloading service iTunes Music Store has brought interoperability debate once again on the table. To be sure, Apples music downloading service is just one example of a closed Digital Rights Management system controlled by a single company or organization in a given market. For example, the so-called copy protected CDs have typically had proprietary DRM systems meaning that the discs can be played only on record label-specific software players. Interoperability is also a matter of degree. In some cases interoperability information is available but only under restrictive and somewhat expensive licensing terms. This is for example the case of DVD format, where DVD Copy Control Association controls the necessary information to produce compatible DVD players. Arguably, proprietary DRM systems are in general problematic to both consumers and competitors. This article analyses DRM interoperability in the light of EU copyright, competition and consumer laws. First, it is asked why copyright directive lacks an explicit interoperability provision and to what extent the directive, however, may allow the development and marketing of compatible devices. Then, the interoperability provisions in the 1991 software directive and their applicability to DRM systems are discussed. The situation is briefly compared to the United States and the possibility of national copyright policies is mentioned following the French example. Second, the article considers EC competition law as a means to enforce interoperability in DRM systems. Analogies are drawn from existing case law. Third, the role of consumer protection regulation in the DRM interoperability debate is discussed following the lead of Scandinavian consumer protection authorities. In the end, the article discusses whether there is a need to recognize interoperability as a general principle in the EU intellectual property policy and what measures could be used to strengthen such policy. Competition policy approach is suggested to provide a formal legal doctrine that could be in the long term implemented in intellectual property laws. In the meantime, consumer protection law can be used as a transitional tool for opening up the most far-reaching DRM systems.

Transnational advocacy network opposing DRM - A technical and legal challenge to media companies

Abstract Organized transnational political and technological activism ‐ here referred to as transnational advocacy networks ‐ has an increasingly strong role in giving images of how one should behave and what to consume. This article analyses transnational advocacy networks that oppose digital rights management (DRM) systems and related regulations. We suggest the potential impact of this activity to the consumption of content products. We start with defining and describing the most relevant advocacy networks. We provide the characterization of existing organizations and their work both the United States and Europe. Then, we discuss four case studies where media companies have experimented with different strategies against DRM circumvention initiated and endorsed by transnational advocacy networks Our argument is that because of the economics of copying on the Internet it is not a sound strategy to use legal actions to remove any circumventing information from the internet. Any circumvention information published on the Internet will be mirrored out of the reach of legal enforcement mechanisms. So far, the only working strategy seems to be to implement a DRM‐system, which can be updated without user intervention after the security is breached. This might be also the most efficient way to control the impact of transnational advocacy networks opposing DRM systems.