Most-read coverage in 2018: Legal issues and the open source community

Get up to date with these 5 articles, from GDPR to licensing.

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Beth Cortez-Neavel on Flickr. Public Domain. Modified by Opensource.com

In 2018, Opensource.com again tackled the intersection of open source and the law, with the most-read articles addressing topics from privacy to patents.

One of the most impactful legal changes in 2018 was the implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), so it's not surprising that many readers were interested in how the new law will affect open source communities.

As in previous years, open source licensing was a popular topic. One well-read article focused on recent court cases that helped shed light on what remedies exist for breaches of the General Public License (GPL). Another article explored whether the MIT License has a "real" patent license.

Since not all of our readers are lawyers, several articles aim to help open source contributors address legal concerns. For example, one article educates readers on meeting the legal challenges that may arise from distributing software through container images. Another helps open source contributors choose between a Contributor License Agreement and a Developer Certificate of Origin by explaining the difference between the two.

How will the GDPR impact open source communities?

Many organizations are scrambling to understand how changes in privacy laws will impact their work.

a magnifying glass looking at a brain illustration

Why so little love for the patent grant in the MIT License?

Conventional wisdom says the Apache License has a "real" patent license. But what about the MIT License?

What's in a container image: Meeting the legal challenges

The implications of distributing software through container images are quite different from those of the package managers many people are familiar with.