SFLC announces a for-profit, open-source law firm

. . . keeping an eye on the penguin

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Mar. 27, 2008

If you were an open-source, non-profit developer and you needed legal help, you went to the Software Freedom Law Center. If, however, you were in the open-source business and you needed free software savvy legal help, finding a competent attorney could be a challenge. So it is that the SFLC has announced the formation of Moglen Ravicher.

This New York City-based law firm will represent select for-profit clients that support open software but aren't otherwise eligible for SFLC's pro bono services. Of course, there are existing law firms, such as Boston's Gesmer Updegrove and Palo Alto, Calif.'s Carr & Ferrell, which also employ lawyers who know their way around the GPL (GNU Public License) and other open-source legal issues. The larger open-source companies, such as Red Hat, have their own in-house counsel.

Moglen Ravicher appears to be focusing on smaller open-source businesses. In a statement, Eben Moglen, founding director of SFLC, said, "We are pleased to extend the services of the Software Freedom Law Center to companies that support software freedom."

The new law firm's first client is OpenNMS. OpenNMS makes a GPLed network management platform for enterprises. OpenNMS has retained the new firm to represent them in matters involving violations of their GPLed code.

In recent months, the SFLC has won several cases involving the misuse of GPLed code. In the latest, and perhaps most noteworthy, case, Verizon settled out of court.

Moglen Ravicher is fully owned by the SFLC, and all profits will go to support SFLC's operations. Clients of Moglen Ravicher will receive legal counsel from the same attorneys that staff the SFLC.

In an e-mail interview with Linux-Watch, Dan Ravicher said that since Moglen Ravicher is an LLC (limited liability corporation), not an LLP or general partnership, there technically are no partners.

“But, practically speaking, Eben and I are the partners, with Karen [Sandler] and James [Vasile] being senior associates and Aaron [Williamson] being a junior associate,” he said.

The SFLC and Moglen Ravicher, Ravicher said, is also "looking for candidates [to join the firm] and generally prefers to take lawyers who have already practiced for a few years.”

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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