OpenSource does not mean "No Copyright"
The verdict was simple... just because you decide to give your work away for free, does not mean anyone can take it from you, and use it in a way which you did not allow. Thank you Larry Wall for the original Artistic Licence.
Essentially, Robert Jacobsen (plaintiff) proved that Matthew Katzer and Kamind Associates Inc. (Defendants) violated his Artistic License Agreement, under which he published his Java Model Train Interface (JMTI), when they unlawfully used his code in their own commercial venture. Now this does not mean that you can't make money off of OpenSource projects, notably Apple's OSX (via Unix) and Red Hat (via Linux). What it does means is that the family of open source licenses are legally protected under the US copyright laws.
This is truly great news. Fundamentally, I think it shows that ideas, passion, and collaboration drive innovation, not profit.
Entire US Federal Appeals Court Ruling- 018-1001.pdf (64.2 Kb)
The OpenSource history
