Jacobsen v. Katzer is a legal case in the United States that has established the enforceability of open source licenses under U.S. copyright law. Robert Jacobsen manages an open source software project on Sourceforge. net called the Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI). The JMRI software is licensed under the Artistic License, version 1.0. Matthew Katzer and Kamind Associates, Inc. develop commercial software products for the model train industry and hobbyists.

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  • Jacobsen v. Katzer is a legal case in the United States that has established the enforceability of open source licenses under U.S. copyright law. Robert Jacobsen manages an open source software project on Sourceforge. net called the Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI). The JMRI software is licensed under the Artistic License, version 1.0. Matthew Katzer and Kamind Associates, Inc. develop commercial software products for the model train industry and hobbyists. Jacobsen claimed Katzer copied portions of the JMRI software and incorporated them into Kamind's commercial software without complying fully with the Artistic License's conditions and sought a preliminary injunction against Katzer and Kamind in federal district court. The suit was filed in California. In August 2007, the district court denied the injunction saying that the "defendants’ alleged violation of the conditions of the license may have constituted a breach of the nonexclusive license, but does not create liability for copyright infringement... " Under the district court's reasoning, Jacobson could still sue for breach of contract, but not copyright violation. Injunctive relief is much more difficult to obtain in a contract matter than for copyright infringement and it is unclear what damages Jacobsen could claim. In August 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated the district court's ruling, holding that the terms of the Artistic License are enforceable copyright conditions, and remanded the case back to the district court to consider whether other conditions required for an injunction were met in this case. The court said "Open source licensing has become a widely used method of creative collaboration that serves to advance the arts and sciences in a manner and at a pace that few could have imagined just a few decades ago," and cited as examples "the GNU/Linux operating system, the Perl programming language, the Apache web server programs, the Firefox web browser, and a collaborative web-based encyclopedia called Wikipedia". Prof. Lawrence Lessig called the ruling "a very important victory" that applies to all open source licenses. In January 2009, the District Court again ruled on the preliminary motions. The court ruled that it would hear Jacobsen's copyright claims but dismissed his breach of contract claims. Regarding the preliminary injunction that was the focus of the Court of Appeals decision, the District Court again denied Jacobsen a preliminary injunction due to a lack of evidence showing any specific and actual harm suffered or imminent as a result of the copyright infringement. However, this ruling does not prevent the court from issuing an injunction after ruling on the merits of the case. In June 2009, the Software Freedom Law Center filed a brief before the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) calling for injunctive relief for open source developers. In the brief, SFLC argues that a Free, Libre, and Open Source Software (FLOSS) developer whose license has been violated should be able to call upon the courts to prevent further infringing distributions. The brief outlines harms to developers, development communities, and project productivity related to open source license violations.
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  • Jacobsen v. Katzer is a legal case in the United States that has established the enforceability of open source licenses under U.S. copyright law. Robert Jacobsen manages an open source software project on Sourceforge. net called the Java Model Railroad Interface (JMRI). The JMRI software is licensed under the Artistic License, version 1.0. Matthew Katzer and Kamind Associates, Inc. develop commercial software products for the model train industry and hobbyists.
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  • Jacobsen v. Katzer
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