Black Duck Software has expanded its line of open source software license management services. Its new “protexIP/license management” service lets attorneys add their clients' own open source licenses to Black Duck's license management system. It targets legal firms and corporate legal departments at companies involved in open source development.

Black first announced it was beta testing open source software license management software in April. In May, it launched protexIP/development, a client-server project management application to track open source license usage and conflicts, and protexIP/registry, essentially a copyright timestamping service for open source contributions.

According to Sr. Product Manager Keith Erskine, the new offering, “protexIP/license management,” enables on- and off-site attorneys to input a company's software licenses into the protexIP system. “That way, when developers analyze their code and look at license conflicts, the company's licenses will be factored in with the open source licenses,” Erskine says.

Additionally, protexIP/license management provides attorneys with more than 200 existing open source licenses, the company says.

Black Duck also announced today that Boston Law firm Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault has completed training with the protexIP product line. The firm says it can handle license audits of ongoing projects, or due diligence for acquisitions involving open source.

Ira Heffan, attorney at Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, said, “Integrating licensing review into the software development process should be a great help to teams trying to deliver software products on budget and on schedule.”

ProtexIP/license management is priced at $9,500 for an annual subscription. The service requires a subscription to protexIP/development, which starts at $12,500 for five users, with volume discounts available.

Black Duck in August announced a joint marketing partnership with Linux distributor and Black Duck customer Red Hat. Black Duck raised $5 million in venture funding in July, and earlier this month hired open source legal heavyweight Larry Rosen as senior advisor.

 
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