Too Many Open Source Licenses! But Do the Existing Licenses Adequately Encompass the Diverse Needs and Concerns of Particular Stakeholders?

When are too many Open Source Licenses enough? There is a need to reduce the number of Open Source Licenses that are available, in the Open Source Software license weltanschauung. However there are arguments for the need to add to the suite of licenses because of the failure of the available licenses to deal with contemporary issues of Intellectual Property, such as patents or where there are specific jurisdiction or software practice issues which are required to be addressed, a growth in the number of stakeholders in Open Source Software also demands attention for addition to the available licenses. This article discusses the briefly the issues of definitions of Open Source Licenses, a brief history of the dominant licenses. Then details issues that exist for software such as Intellectual Property, in particular Patents, consumer warranty, changes in jurisprudence, choices of law and forum. Stakeholders of Open Source software are then examined, along with specific examples of concerns particular to those stakeholders, such as fear of effects of consumer warranty and patent infringement, loss of control over where to sell goods and where the issues may be in mandate of a Government