AI-based code generators are a powerful application of generative AI. These tools leverage AI to assist code developers by using AI models to auto-complete or suggest code based on developer inputs or tests. These tools raise at least three types of potential legal issues:Continue Reading Solving Open Source Problems with AI Code Generators – Legal Issues and Solutions
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) affirmed a district court ruling that the asserted nonliteral elements of a software program were not copyright protectable, in part, because allegedly copied materials contained unprotectable open-source elements, factual and data elements and other known elements that were not original.Continue Reading Divided Federal Circuit Makes Controversial Ruling That Nonliteral Elements of “Cloned” Software Are Not Protectable Because It Was Based on Open Source and Other Known Material
This article was originally published on Law360 on March 1, 2019.
The use of open source with cloud-based deployments has become more complicated. Until recently, the OSS license issues with cloud deployments have been fairly straight forward. It is well known that certain OSS licenses have some significant legal implications (detailed below) but that these implications are triggered when software programs that use OSS are distributed. Due to the fact that with most cloud-based deployments the software is not distributed, many developers are lulled into a false sense of security that there are no OSS implications with such deployments. The reality is there are a growing number of OSS licenses that have significant legal implications, even when the OSS is used in a cloud-based deployment. This article will address some of the relevant licenses and their legal implications.
Continue Reading Not Every (Open Source) Cloud Has a Silver Lining