The Federal Circuit’s ruling in Jacobsen v. Katzer finally settled the question of whether open source licenses are enforceable. Unfortunately, three recent cases from the Ninth Circuit have complicated matters. I call this trio of cases the “MDY Trio” in honor of the Ninth Circuit’s...

The advent and increasing use of free enterprise software presents new challenges and complexities in obtaining optimal governmental IT acquisitions. In this study, we consider the implications of pricing thresholds on government procurement processes in light of free software availability. We...

The open source paradigm is often defined as a collaborative effort, implying that firms and consumers come together in a non-competitive climate. We show here that open source development can arise from a competitive climate. Under competition, we find that open source is the surplus maximizing...