Jason Schultz and Jennifer Urban - CIS Speaker Series 2011

Defensive patenting---i.e., filing a patent specifically to avoid the threat of litigation---is a common strategy in the world of intellectual property for private companies focused on information technology. Free software and open source ("FOSS") projects, however, are historically wary of defensive patenting. Why is this? And what strategies might make defensive patenting more appealing to the FOSS community? In this talk, UC Berkley's Jason Schultz and Jennifer Urban proposeed a possible defensive patent strategy (including a proposed license) for FOSS and discussed the advantages and challenges (legal, economic, and cultural challenges) of their approach.