The Intellectual Property Protection System Study Of Open Source Software

Open source software is in the ascendant around the world, setting off a huge change in the history of the development of the software industry. This makes programmers of developing and developed countries have the chance to compete on the same starting line, which greatly stimulate the wisdom and creativity of programmers worldwide. Open source software is released by enthusiast’s spontaneous action originally and not seeking for benefits and returns. But, with the commercialization of open source software, it gradually started to become the carrier of a business model, got its own interests to pursue. The rights and obligations generated by the open source software is increasingly complex, a variety of disputes related to open source software born in the reality. However, due to the special nature of open source software, the existing legal system to protect the computer software and the general protection of computer software theory is difficult to fully protect their interests, urgent needed to be adjusted by the more detailed and targeted laws. This article recommends for building intellectual property protection system of open source software, through the analysis of the problems in the open source software protection law, hopefully to play a positive role in promoting the development of open source software industry in China.This article is divided into six parts, the first part is introduction, briefly describes this article, includes the background and significance, literature review, research methods and content, innovation and inadequate. The second part is an overview of open source software, introduced the concept of open source software, the comparison with the commercial software and public domain software, The origin and development of open source software and the enormous and far-reaching impact of open source software in the software industry. The third section briefly describes the license which is the special protection for open source software. Analyzes the similarities and differences between open source software licenses and commercial software licenses, then introduces the legal nature of open source software license, highlights several common licenses, also did a comparative study of several commonly used licenses. Part four discusses the intellectual property protection mode of the open source software, respectively analyzed from three aspects of copyright patent right and trademark right, it also describes the legal risks faced by open source software. The fifth part provides legal advice to build China’s open source software legal protection mechanisms, combined with the existing legal system in China. Finally, the epilogue is a summary of the full article. With the development of open source software in China, it should be as early as possible to improve its IPR legal protection system, to lay a good foundation for the development of China’s software industry.With the open source movement boom in the global, open source software has attracted more and more attention from scholars, but our research of this field is still in its infancy. This paper presents some personal opinions of the relevant legal issues of open source software. Although China has no specific legislation in this field, we can combine the characteristics of open source software and the existing legal system, wisely use the existing intellectual property system to protect the freedom of open source software. Some of the problems is not currently able to solve, I hope that through the writing of this article so that readers can get a rational understanding of the open source movement. Hopefully provide some valuable information for legislation in this field at the same time.