Legal Experts Join Linux Foundation Team

Aug 09, 2007

Two legal experts have recently joined the Linux Foundation team: Karen Copenhaver, a specialist for Open Source licenses and Andy Updegrove, an expert for open standards.

The experts will give members of the non-profit organization legal advice on Linux-related topics, help to protect the Linux brand, and help to defend against litigation.

Both legal experts are well-known in the Open Source community. Copenhaver is a partner in a Boston law firm that specializes in technology and intellectual property. She was the Vice President of Black Duck Software where she will be joining the board. The US company specializes in software license management services and products.

Updegrove is the founder and a partner in the Boston law firm Gesmer Updegrove and made a name for himself with blogs on Open Source and software standards on the consortiuminfo.org website, his sharp criticism of Microsoft's proprietary OpenXML standard, and his role in the controversial decision by the State of Massachusetts in favor of the free Open Document Format (ODF).

In the next couple of months the legal team will be inviting other Linux Foundation members, including representatives of major players HP, IBM, Intel and Novell, to a strategic conference that will last for several days.

Related content

  • Linux Foundation Invites Legal Practitioners to Summit

    The Linux Foundation has issued invitations to its first summit on legal topics concerning Linux and Open Source in Boston. A second event will provide legal practitioners with know-how on the topic on an annual basis.

    more »
  • Speculations About Microsoft's Open Source CodePlex Foundation

    A few developers have tried to discern the goal behind Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation established just a week ago. A legal advisor for the Linux Foundation has made some recommendations to what he considers the foundation's faulty organizational structure.

    more »
  • FTC Strengthens Standards and Open Source

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has come to a decision that could be crucial for standards and Open Source software in proposing a consent agreement in a patenting claim, says Andy Updegrove, the Linux Foundation's (LF) legal expert.

    more »
  • Open Source Lawyers Offer Free Legal Advice

    With the Free Software Foundation Europe as the idea source, international and open source lawyers have started a publication to help the legal profession understand issues surrounding free and open source software. The lawyers have taken the open source community as a model for their project.

    more »
  • New Member of Software Freedom Law Center Board

    Legal expert Mark Webbink, who formerly worked for Red Hat, has just joined the Board of Directors of the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC). Webbinks gained expert knowledge of intellectual property in his former position with the Linux enterprise.

    more »
comments powered by Disqus

Issue 244/2021

Buy this issue as a PDF

Digital Issue: Price $12.99
(incl. VAT)

News

Tag Cloud

Administration Community Desktop Events Hardware Linux Linux Pro Magazine Mobile Programming Software Ubuntu Web Development Windows free software open source