Embedded.com: Embedded Linux and the Law

“One of the more confusing aspects of the open source phenomenon
has been the proliferation of different source code licensing
schemes. There are so many different licensing terms, in fact, that
if you are considering using multiple pieces of software developed
by others in your products, you’ll probably want to have an
intellectual property lawyer read the license agreement for each
such component and advise you how best to proceed.

“Fortunately, if you only want to use Linux, the situation is
much more straightforward.

“A common myth is that the use of any piece of open source code,
including Linux, requires the user to give away the source code to
their own proprietary application. In truth, most open source
licenses protect only the borrowed code and do not place any
restrictions on other software you might develop for use alongside
it…”

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