Open source software imparts a number of benefits, including decreasing product development time, distributing development across a community and attracting developers to your organization. However, some organizations shy away from it due to perceived risks and disadvantages around intellectual property. Once you’ve incorporated open source into your products or open sourced your own code, it’s common to worry that you’ve surrendered control over your most valuable assets, or even worse, left your organization vulnerable to litigation with no defensive weapons with which to protect yourself.
Good news: it is possible to simultaneously support an open source program while maintaining an active IP program. Smart organizations can avail themselves of the benefits of open source, identify the aspects of its software that are of interest to a broader development community—and thus good candidates for open sourcing—and protect those aspects of its software that are unique to the business or provide a competitive advantage through various IP protections.
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