Open Source can now be copyrighted

The idea of Open Source is for the community at large to help improve the project and for computer software to be made available for free public download without the problems of copyright in most retail software.

Today things have changed and become more confusing thanks to a U.S. federal appeals court that has ruled something that sounds strange to most people.

The judge ruled that open-source groups can protect their code under copyright laws, and this is a ruling that other open-source groups can use.

Software companies like Microsoft, normally keep software code secret while Open-source software makers like to share the source code for improvements.

When we look closer at this ruling it seems that most open source developers will like the results. Individuals who do not follow conditions set out in the open-source license should be open to copyright infringement claims. This is now possible thanks to the ruling.

Read the full story via the read link below this post or leave a comment with your opinion on Open Source and how it should be protected.

Source: Read