Guarding the commons: how community managed software projects protect their work
by Siobhán O’Mahony
Abstract/Summary
Theorists often speculate why open source and free software project contributors give their work away. Although contributors make their work publicly available, they do not forfeit their rights to it. Community managed software projects protect their work by using several legal and normative tactics, which should not be conflated with a disregard for or neglect of intellectual property rights. These tactics allow a project’s intellectual property to be publicly and freely available and yet, governable. Exploration of this seemingly contradictory state may provide new insight into governance models for the management of digital intellectual property.
References
Citation
Siobhán, O’Mahony: Guarding the commons: how community managed software projects protect their work, Research Policy 32(7), 1179–1198, 2003
BIBTeX
@Article{
title = "Guarding the commons: how community managed software projects protect their work",
author = "O’Mahony, Siobh{\'a}n",
journal = "Research Policy",
pages = "1179--1198",
volume = "32",
number = "7",
year = "2003",
issn = "0048-7333",
url = "http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048733303000489",
doi = "10.1016/S0048-7333(03)00048-9"
}
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