Whither (Not Wither) Copyleft
| Author | Prof. Eben Moglen |
| Position | Columbia University; Software Freedom Law Center |
| Pages | 1-8 |
Prof. Eben Moglen,
a
(a) Columbia University; Software Freedom Law Center
Abstract
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All projects agree to distribute all source code that has been authored while working on
an NSF/BigCorp award under a BSD, Apache or other equivalent open source license.
Software licenses that require as a condition of use, modification and/or distribution that
the software or other software incorporated into, derived from or distributed with the
software be licensed by the user to third parties for the purpose of making and/or
distributing derivative works are not permitted. Licenses not appropriate thus include any
version of GNU General Public License (GPL) or Lesser/Library GPL (LGPL), the
Artistic License (e.g., PERL), and the Mozilla Public License.
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in any inventions or works of authorship resulting from research conducted under the
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About the author
Professor Eben Moglen began building software as a professional programmer at age 13. He worked
as a designer of advanced computer programming languages at IBM from 1979 to 1985. In 1991, he
represented Philip Zimmerman, the developer of PGP ("Pretty Good Privacy"), threatened with
prosecution by the US government for making strong encryption Free Software that everyone could
use. In 1993, he joined forces with Richard M Stallman to provide world-class legal representation
and expertise to the Free Software movement. With RMS, he conceived, wrote, and created a public
process for discussion and adoption of GPLv3, the current version of the world's most widely-used
Free Software license.
In addition to his work with Free Software developers, Professor Moglen has advised major IT
companies and national governments around the world. In 2010, he testified before the European
Commission on the FOSS consequences of Oracle Corporation's acquisition of Sun Microsystems, and
before the US Congress on Internet privacy and consumer protection. He has appeared numerous times
on software- and privacy-related issues as amicus curiae before the US Supreme Court.
Professor Moglen earned his PhD in History and his law degree at Yale University. After law school,
he clerked for Judge Edward Weinfeld of the United States District Court in New York City and for
Justice Thurgood Marshall of the United States Supreme Court. He has taught at Columbia Law School
since 1987 and has held visiting appointments at Harvard University, Tel Aviv University, and the
University of Virginia. In 2003, he was given the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Pioneer Award for
efforts on behalf of freedom in the electronic society. Professor Moglen is admitted to practice in the
State of New York and before the United States Supreme Court.
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∀∀ ∀ + ∀#∀∗1!∗3 , 373 Α/1
Licence and Attribution
3 1&#∀∀∀ ∀ + ∀#∀∗1!∗3 , 3
Review, Volume 9, Issue 1 (2017)(∀ #∀∀
333(
!1#&!# 3
Moglen, Eben (2013) 'Whither (Not Wither) Copyleft', International Free and Open
Source Software Law Review, 9 (1), pp 1 – 8
DOI: 10. 5033 5033 ifosslr.v9i1.116
Copyright © 2017 Eben Moglen.
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