[ox-en] open source business models (fwd from fsb)
- From: geert lovink <geert desk.nl>
- Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2002 15:07:47 +1100
From: "Michael Bauer" <bauer michaelbauer.com>
To: "David" <dirvine david-irvine.com>
Cc: "fsb" <fsb crynwr.com>
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2002 8:56 AM
Subject: Re: licensing adn open source business models
I've been working on something I call "Open Corporations"
(http://www.michaelbauer.com/open-corporations.html";). Basically, it's a
summary of thought that advocates establishing a formal legal entity
around an open source project. This entity manages the intellectual
property on behalf of the open source developers in such a way that
supports both the open source developers and more scalable business
models. An Open Corporation uses "Common Source" licenses for the
software that support it's "free" use in most contexts, but simply
requires fair compensation for use when distributing
revenue-generating derivative works.
The essay draws on a number of other ideas such as those proposed in the
Democratic Software license. It tries to simplify things a bit by leaving
the definition and allocation of "equity" up to a corporation rather than
defined in a license. It also provides a currently informal analysis of
traditional open source business models. Food for thought.
_______________________
http://www.oekonux.org/