Whether you're a coder, in-house counsel at a software company, or an IP attorney in the tech space, it's important to understand the legal issues in the growing open source world. In this episode of Law.com's Unprecedented podcast, O'Melveny & Myers partner Heather Meeker explains the spate of recent enforcement statements by large tech organizations including Facebook, Red Hat, and the Linux Kernel Community — as well as the row over Facebook's patent licenses for several of its popular open source projects.

Meeker also talks about the unique challenges that largely consensus-driven open source projects face in dealing with sexual harassment, after 2017's #MeToo movement. “I think this is an issue that's like the next shoe to drop in open source,” she says. “People who are managing open source projects now need to be sensitized about these issues. They needed to before, but it is inevitable that there are going to be some significant and public problems.”

Listen to the full episode above, or subscribe to the podcast on your iOS or Android device. You can check out the links below for more information.

GPLv2 Enforcement Statements:

Red Hat, Facebook, Google, and IBM

Linux Kernel Community

Related articles by Meeker:

“Patrick McHardy and copyright profiteering” (OpenSource.com)

“Don't Over-REACT to the Facebook Patents License” (Fossa.io)

Related coverage from Law.com:

For Better Code, GitLab's Lawyers Try Ditching the Legalese