/dev/lawyer

12 October 2019

essential concepts and vocabulary for cross-license collaboratives

• Licensing
• XLC

05 October 2019

decentralizing contributor license agreements

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Business Models
• Decentralization

03 October 2019

towards constructive collaboration across practice communities

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Standards
• Patents
• Copyleft

03 October 2019

please stop paying me so much to fix reps and warranties

• Open Source
• Mergers and Acquisitions

28 September 2019

they won’t see your funding plea if they never look

• Killjoy
• Open Source
• Licensing

28 September 2019

in defense of Seth Vargo and morality-first licenses

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Politics

26 September 2019

licensing gives developers much-needed flexibility

• Business
• Licensing
• Open Source

25 September 2019

three better ways to express yourself and your company

• Open Source
• Open Core
• Business Models

10 September 2019

considering an open legal podcast

• Open Source
• Licensing

09 September 2019

forthcoming talk at a conference

• Events
• Open Source
• Business Models

09 September 2019

more mandatory reading from Kate Downing

• Open Source
• Colleagues

09 September 2019

my annotated copy of the statute

• Privacy
• Compliance
• California

09 September 2019

a more adaptable, international standard

• Waypoint
• Contracts
• Nondisclosure Agreement
• Standards

05 September 2019

a few thoughts on a friend’s podcast appearance

• Open Source
• Licensing

15 August 2019

a general-purpose legal tool to require credit for open work

• Licenses
• Open Source

17 July 2019

seeking quick reads from non-US counsel

• Waypoint
• Contracts
• Nondisclosure Agreement
• Standards

14 July 2019

the NDA for your personal information

• Contracts
• Forms
• Privacy

12 July 2019

standard noncommercial software licenses at last

• Licensing
• Software

27 June 2019

unique compilation of arguments and dynamics

• Software
• Licensing
• Patents

25 June 2019

open source advice for new programmers breaking into the industry

• Careers
• Open Source
• Software Industry

24 June 2019

a call for help from common-law colleagues

• Waypoint
• Contracts
• Nondisclosure Agreement
• Standards

24 June 2019

a snail mail experiment

20 June 2019

farewell, Twitter

• Writing
• Social Media

17 June 2019

the end of club rule in open source law

• Open Source
• Law Practice
• Colleagues

15 June 2019

essential industry background for reading open software licenses

• Industry
• Licensing
• Open Source
• Software

13 June 2019

how open licensing blew its biggest opportunity of the 2010s

• Licensing
• Open Source
• SSPL

30 May 2019

simple, standard, plain-language software licenses

• Licensing
• Software
• Standardization

21 May 2019

graduate to new public license terms

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Business Models

18 May 2019

exploring the crosswise policy biases we learn from open software

• Business Models
• Open Source
• Policy

12 May 2019

how to type when the pain puts you on your back

08 May 2019

open source’s narrow focus further empowers those with other ways to exclude

• Licensing
• Open Source

05 May 2019

activist approval does not track practical needs

• Open Source
• Open Source Initiative
• Licensing

29 April 2019

a redline (diff) with important network terms highlighted

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Drafting

23 April 2019

stop wasting time on NDAs

• Waypoint
• Contracts
• Nondisclosure Agreement
• Standards

23 April 2019

endorsements can’t fix the Open Source Definition

• Open Source
• Free Software
• Licensing

12 April 2019

a new proposal, schema, and tools

• Open Source
• Sustainability

11 April 2019

the status quo, plus money for devs

• Business Models
• Forms
• Licensing
• Open Source

06 April 2019

repairing broken steps to software license Nirvana

• Licensing
• Business Planning
• Open Source

18 March 2019

automatically reward supporters with copyleft exceptions

• Sketches
• Open Source
• Licensing

17 March 2019

just four licenses for all of open source

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Copyleft

15 March 2019

bringing openness to software of moral concern

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Ethics

11 March 2019

towards selective or consistent copyleft

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Copyleft

09 March 2019

it’s time to retire thirty-year-old academic licenses

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Intellectual Property

07 March 2019

opening the software commons to everyone

• Nonprofits
• Intellectual Property
• Licensing

04 March 2019

the copyright giant has a policy

• Open Source
• Intellectual Property
• Sustainability

25 February 2019

developing resource for indie-ready business models

• Open Source
• Business Models
• Forms
• Licenses

24 February 2019

a comprehensive curriculum for new license wonks

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Reading
• Teaching

22 February 2019

evident demand for license rules on API boundaries

• Licensing
• Open Source
• Copyleft
• Open Core

22 February 2019

first release of API-boundary copyleft form

• Copyleft
• Licensing
• Open Source

30 January 2019

functionality, interfaces, and line drawing in a new copyleft paradigm

• Copyleft
• Licensing
• Open Source
• SSPL

27 January 2019

developing a standard paid-software license

• Contracts
• Forms
• Software

12 January 2019

first shot at a short, plain license in the vein of Mongo’s SSPL

• Copyleft
• Licensing
• Open Source
• SSPL

12 January 2019

open software by closed methods

• Copyleft
• Development Methodology
• Open Source
• Software Freedom

10 January 2019

write out the purposes of legal terms in contracts

• Drafting
• Contracts
• License

09 January 2019

professional availability now online

18 December 2018

a redline (diff) showing substantive changes

• Open Source
• Licenses

05 December 2018

a minimal, functionalist view of open source

• Governance
• Licensing
• Open Source

04 December 2018

Did permissive used to advantage open work like copyleft does today?

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Copyleft
• Sustainability

12 November 2018

making money by choosing what to give away

• Business Models
• Licensing
• Open Source
• SSPL

05 November 2018

an in-depth review of commonly cited criteria

• SSPL
• Open Source
• Licensing
• Copyleft

04 November 2018

loopholes, licenses, and realpolitik in open source

• SSPL
• Open Source
• Licensing
• Copyleft

24 October 2018

the missing vocabulary of copyleft design

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Copyleft
• SSPL

17 October 2018

crosspost from the License Zero blog

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Funding

07 October 2018

first stab at a pragmatic best-practice guide

• Open Source
• Licensing

07 October 2018

attacking the NDA problem with standards networks

• Contracts
• RxNDA
• Canting Tribe
• Standardization

01 October 2018

dispensing software licenses in the Internet era

• Killjoy
• Open Source
• Licensing

30 September 2018

relicensing without foundation, BDFL, or unanimity

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Governance

24 September 2018

do not do or die

• Motorcycles

23 September 2018

gun-shy insurgents and the heavy weapons of IP law

• Killjoy
• Open Source
• Patent
• Software Freedom

22 September 2018

celestial finance for earth-bound developers

• Killjoy
• Open Source
• Funding

21 September 2018

assurance contracts for short-term open software maintenance

• Open Source
• Legal Technology
• Contracts

18 September 2018

nits picked in the developer terms for a new pay-the-devs company

• Open Source
• Contracts
• Intellectual Property

17 September 2018

Where’s the fifth freedom?

• Open Source
• Free Software
• Licenses

02 September 2018

takedown power for DIY developers

• Killjoy
• Open Source
• Licensing
• DMCA

28 August 2018

marriages of licensing convenience, and changed circumstances

• Open Source
• Licenses
• Drafting

23 August 2018

defining open source for fun and profit, in the shadow of the enterprise

• Open Source
• Procurement

20 August 2018

14 August 2018

tips for values-forward reformers

12 July 2018

a strong-attribution open source license

• Open Source
• Licenses

23 June 2018

TechCrunch article on problems and solutions

14 June 2018

simple tools for drafting to be proud of

• Common Form
• Contracts
• Law

31 May 2018

work made for hire contracts can make contractors employees for state employment insurance purposes

• Law
• California
• Contracts
• Copyright

24 May 2018

open form plain-language processor addendum

• Forms
• Contracts
• Privacy
• GDPR

23 May 2018

open form terms of service for websites

• Forms
• Contracts

06 March 2018

peer to peer prose editing

• Software
• Peer-to-Peer

19 January 2018

read these books

• Law
• Contracts
• Drafting

16 January 2018

a fast, easy, and free way to secure scientific methods and findings for the public domain

• Science
• Licensing
• Patent

16 January 2018

kinds of help I could use

• Projects

15 January 2018

sharper tools, finer toolmarks

• Common Form
• Contract Drafting
• Contract Architecture

15 January 2018

a redline (diff) showing changes

• Open Source
• Licenses
• Drafting

11 January 2018

wandering ever closer to LISP

• Common Form
• Contract Drafting
• Contract Architecture

09 January 2018

you may want to subscribe on License Zero, too

• Projects
• Licensing
• Open Source

09 January 2018

a redline (diff) showing changes

• Open Source
• Licenses
• Drafting

06 January 2018

licensing with friends, improved and improving

• Open Source
• Licensing

04 January 2018

farewell, Medium

• Blog
• Writing
• Social Media

29 December 2017

fine-grained means of abstraction in legal drafting

• Common Form
• Contract Drafting
• Contract Architecture

12 November 2017

a redline (diff) showing changes

• Open Source

16 October 2017

moral blindness in open source as social media

• Open Source
• Unsustainability at Scale
• Social Media

15 October 2017

today’s tools for yesterday’s problems tomorrow

• Open Source
• Sustainability

09 October 2017

indie coder, promote thyself!

• Open Source
• Contracts

26 September 2017

doing IP law wrong, and getting away with it

• Intellectual Property
• Clients
• Open Source
• Licensing

12 September 2017

sustainable software in the open

• Licensing
• Open Source
• License Zero

01 September 2017

thinking about direct lawyer guidance on rxnda.com

• RxNDA
• Contracts
• Confidentiality

31 August 2017

against demise of the hacker public license

• Licensing
• Open Source
• Policy

27 August 2017

• Legal Profession
• Legal Technology
• Personal Notes

12 August 2017

breaking the NDA logjam

• RxNDA
• Contracts
• Software

25 July 2017

reading the tea leaves of the Commission’s first major ICO report

• Blockchain
• Cryptocurrency
• Securities

09 June 2017

an open form contract for open source contractors

• Contracts
• Forms
• Open Source

06 June 2017

legal terms for paid web apps, now available in the English language

• Contracts
• Forms
• Open Source

04 June 2017

another view of Open Source

• Open Source
• Legal Profession

26 May 2017

a short, practical guide to open source software for programmers at work

• Open Source
• Licenses

24 April 2017

29 March 2017

the pain and confusion of common open licenses, roughly quantified

• Open Source
• Licensing

16 February 2017

short-order feedback on the default contributor license in GitHub’s draft terms of service

• Open Source
• GitHub
• Licensing

10 February 2017

no holy fools for Open Source

• Open Source
• Contracts
• Governance

21 September 2016

171 words every programmer should understand

• Open Source
• Licensing

18 September 2016

Who keeps a blockchain’s conscience?

• Blockchain
• Ethereum
• Governance
• History of Law

12 September 2016

The writing on the door.

• Law Practice

20 August 2016

I am just a copy of a copy of a copy. Everything I say you have read before.

• Common Form
• Contracts
• Lawyering

19 August 2016

fundamental abstractions reviewed and revisited

• Node.js
• JavaScript
• Design Patterns

08 August 2016

publicly licensed, publicly available intro for non-lawyers

• Copyright
• Patent
• Trade Secret
• Trademark

26 July 2016

or, a few things learned the hard way

• JavaScript
• Programming

19 June 2016

Confidentiality rules and procedures for the great Common Form library in the sky

• Common Form
• Confidentiality

28 May 2016

A first attempt at useful, responsible Common Form annotations

• Common Form
• Privacy
• Confidentiality

13 May 2016

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all on GitHub.

• Open Source
• Licensing

13 May 2016

Safe open-source licensing means more than a LICENSE file.

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Provenance

20 April 2016

The tangled web of one start-up equity plan

• Startups
• Securities
• Document Structure

18 April 2016

Sucks less than CLAs!

• Open Source
• Licensing

30 March 2016

Text and my first thoughts on a new, non-open source form license

• Open Source
• Licensing
• Drafting

28 February 2016

In feigned ignorance there is no grace.

• Legal Profession
• Marketing
• Open Legal Data

23 February 2016

An open legal operating system for start-up technology companies

• Legal
• Open Source
• Startups

27 November 2015

Enumeration is an essential contract drafting tool. Don’t disclaim it!

• Contracts
• Ambiguity
• Software

27 November 2015

Document assembly can make ambiguity even harder to spot.

• Ambiguity
• Contracts
• Templates

29 October 2015

A tough Common Form design decision explained.

• Common Form
• Contracts

08 October 2015

Fighting insertion of unexpected terms in automated form contracts

• Contracts
• Security
• Common Form

25 September 2015

Changes to Facebook’s patent grant for React, Flux, Immutable, &c.

• Patent
• Licensing
• Open Source

10 September 2015

How signed is signed enough for a hosted software licensing deal?

• Contracts
• Law
• SaaS

03 September 2015

Overview of existing Common Form software for programmers

• Common Form
• Programming

24 August 2015

Verifiable contracts should help consumers, too.

• Privacy
• Common Form

21 August 2015

Markdown isn’t great for contracts. HTML5 is better.

• Contracts
• Software
• Common Form

15 August 2015

Common Form for paper people

• Common Form
• Contracts

14 August 2015

Might we write contracts like we fill shopping bags at the grocery store?

• Law
• Contracts
• Common Form

01 August 2015

If contract section numbers are just another namespace, can they be replaced with defined terms?

• Law
• Contracts
• Drafting
• Modularity

31 July 2015

From code to law and back again

• Law
• Programming
• Startups
• Common Form

22 May 2015

What if open-source contributors could submit patches anonymously and choose to claim credit later?

• Open Source
• Collaboration
• Privacy

18 May 2015

Ancient and modern principles of contract interpretation work against contracts made of modular parts

• Common Form
• Contracts
• Modularity

17 May 2015

Quantifying the negotiating process to mount attacks on the confidentiality of a public contract forms repository

• Law
• Contracts
• Data

20 April 2015

as found at the feet of my bills

• Professional Fees
• Law Practice

13 February 2015

What do the FTC’s 2014 privacy and security enforcement actions teach tech companies?

• Law
• Privacy
• Security
• Startups
• Federal Trade Commission

09 February 2015

Composable, verifiable, shareable form contracts for the modern practice of law

• Contracts
• Law
• Software

22 January 2015

An ECMAScript module fusing Node.js error-first convention with continuation passing style, plus a twist to make composed stacks of asynchronous functions dynamic

• Programming
• Node.js
• ECMAScript

23 October 2014

Cheap storage technology isn’t just changing what information we store; it’s also changing how we store familiar kinds of information. Both developments have implications for privacy.

• Privacy
• Databases
• Big Data