DrupalCon Prague 2013: ARE GPL AND PATENTS LIMITS OR OPPORTUNITIES TO GROW BUSINESS?

This talk is about the two most important intellectual property (IP) topics with open source: the GPL license and software patents. They are often seen as complete opposites, and many hold strong opinions about them. GPL is a cancer! Kill all patents! This talk gets us back to the basics: what is the state of GPL and patents today, and how do they affect software based businesses including everyone making their living in the Drupal community. It is very true GPL makes it difficult to create scalable software licensing business. At the same time GPL can help make a platform truly popular and you can innovate around its business limitations. Third party software patents can make you feel uncertain to add a certain feature. At the same time patent threats are rarely any problem for smaller companies. When you are ready, filing and licensing patents can give you an edge against competition and actually get your business to the next level.

Drupal is a registered trademark of Dries Buytaert.