When Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) are becoming more broadly deployed (sometimes as part of proprietary systems) amongst organisations who have limited pre-understanding of the philosophy underlying FOSS there are a number of challenges which need to be successfully addressed. Such challenges include licensing obligations for FOSS and a number of associated legal issues, such as patents, trademarks, procurement law, and various conditions (e.g. FRAND-terms) for use of standards. Many companies and public sector organisations struggle with these challenges and there are sometimes tensions and legal disputes between different interests, which may involve organisations and individuals contributing to specific open source projects.

This panel seeks to address the following overarching question: Which are the contemporary legal and policy challenges needed to be better understood through systematic research studies, and what relevant studies should be designed and conducted in order to produce relevant research results as well as practical outcomes in order to shed light on these challenges?

The (45 minutes) panel will start with short position statements by the panellists and a dialogue between them. Significant time will be allocated to an open discussion on the issues with the audience, and those attending are invited to raise their own concerns and share their own experiences.

About the panellists:

Björn Lundell (Ph.D.) is a senior researcher at the University of Skövde, Sweden.

Associate Professor Björn Lundell (Ph.D.) is a senior researcher at the University of Skövde, Sweden. He leads the Software Systems Research Group, has conducted research related to free and open source software for a number of years and participated in a number of research projects in different leading roles. His research is reported in over 100 publications in a variety of international journals and conferences. He was the program co-chair for the 8th and 12th International Conference on Open Source Systems (OSS 2012 and OSS 2016) and is the project leader for the collaborative research project LIM-IT (www.his.se/lim-it), which address fundamental FOSS challenges in collaboration with several industrial partners.

Dr. Matthias Stürmer is head of the Research Center for Digital Sustainability at the Institute of Information Systems at University of Bern since 2013. As a post-doc he is researching, teaching, and consulting on digital sustainability, open source software, open data, open government and ICT procurement. Previously he worked as IT advisory manager at EY (Ernst & Young) and as project leader at Liip AG, a Swiss software company creating agile Internet solutions based on open source technologies. In 2009 Matthias finished his doctoral dissertation at the Chair of Strategic Management and Innovation at ETH Zürich focussing on open source communities and firm involvement. He studied business administration and computer science at University of Bern until 2005 (lic.rer.pol) and wrote his master thesis on Open Source Community Building. Currently Matthias Stürmer is president of tcbe.ch ICT Cluster Bern, member of the board of the open source association CH Open, co-founder and member of the board of Opendata.ch, and secretary of the Swiss Parliamentarian Group for Digital Sustainability. Since 2011 he is member of the city parliament of Bern having initiated the increased use of and contribution to open source software in public administration and schools.

Andrew Katz is a UK-based lawyer specialising in FOSS and open content.

Prior to becoming a lawyer, Andrew Katz was a developer and has released software under the GPL. He advises individuals, corporations, foundations and public sector organisations on FOSS law issues, and is a visiting researcher at the University of Skövde, Sweden, and visiting lecturer at Queen Mary, University of London. He is a founder editor of the Free and Open Source Software Law Review.

Pamela Chestek is the principal of Chestek Legal, which counsels creative communities on branding, marketing, and protecting and sharing content.