Free and open source software has its origins among hackers looking for an alternative to the Unix software popular in the early 1990s, but has since moved decisively into the mainstream of for-profit software companies. The increasingly close ties between the free software community and the for-profit software sector were again apparent in March, when Richard Fontana, a prominent lawyer at the nonprofit Software Freedom Law Center, moved over to open source software company Red Hat, Inc., where he will be the company’s new open source licensing and patent counsel.
Fontana is now working with new assistant general counsel Rob Tiller, who joined Red Hat from Helms, Mulliss & Wicker. The pair have already written an amicus brief in the Bilski case at the Federal Circuit explaining the downside of software patents, and settled two suits brought by a patent-holding company in a way that observers say could set a major precedent.
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