Guarding Trade Secrets and Rethinking IP Indemnity Risks in the New OSS/Open Source World

Open source software (“OSS”) and other technologies have driven large expansions of products and services in recent years. But using such technology inherently carries with it potential legal risks. In addition to more apparent intellectual property issues, such as copyright and patent rights, using OSS and contributing to OSS projects may also raise concerns related to trade secret protection and indemnity obligations. Understanding how to safeguard a company’s critical trade secrets and contain unintended indemnity obligations is critical to developing a robust and effective open source program, while mitigating risks.

Join us for a discussion on recognizing trade secret and indemnity risks associated with OSS and strategies on how to mitigate those risks.

Topics to be discussed include:

• What are trade secrets in the context of OSS?
• Protecting your trade secrets when using and creating OSS
• Recognizing what is and is not protectable and planning ahead accordingly
• What indemnity obligations are created by using and contributing to open source projects?
• How to avoid unintended indemnity obligations

Recorded: View On Demand

Moderator:
Benjamin Schlesinger

Speakers:
Nicholas D. Petrella
Ming-Tao Yang