Taras+Povorozniuk



In this paper, we will identify legal framework for proprietary and open-source software regulation in the countries of the European Union with the goal of finding alternatives to current policies and identifying the pros and cons of each. It will be shown that current policy in software intellectual property protection is based on rather long but limited period which is given to software producers when they have exclusive and too broad rights on their product leading to monopoly power. For the purpose of policy research we will focus on copyright issues related to software in general with special attention to open-source movement as a crucial point for ‘common values’ supporters and as a main alternative to current copyright scheme of software regulation. The last section of this paper will make concrete recommendations for decision-makers in order to reach equilibrium between social needs and incentives for private investments by gradual switch from copyright to open-source scheme of regulation.

Content:

I. Introduction II. Defining Information Commons III. Legal Framework for Proprietary and Open-Source (Free) Software IV. Current Policy in Copyright Protection of Software V. Open-Source (Free) Software Regulation VI. Proprietary Software v. Open Source Software: Equilibrium between Private and Social Interest VII. Recommendations VIII. Conclusions