When is one program a “derivative work” of another? Lawrence Rosen, general counsel for the Open Source Initiative (which manages and promotes the Open Source Definition), sheds some light on this important topic in an online article at Linux Journal. Rosen writes . . .

“Many users of open-source software are frightened by the term 'derivative works'. They worry they might accidentally create derivative works and put their own proprietary software under an open-source license. This is a complex topic that courts and lawyers disagree on, but I think we find definitions to ease people's concerns . . .”

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