Yesterday marked a big step in copyright protection of open source licensed software, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that an open source software developer can claim copyright infringement, even if the work is released under a free software license.

A federal appeals court has overruled a lower court ruling that, if sustained, would have severely hampered the enforceability of free software licenses. The lower court had found that redistributing software in violation of the terms of a free software license could constitute a breach of contract, but was not copyright infringement.

""In a decision centering around the violation of the Artistic License, a San Francisco court has denied an injunction against Matthew Katzer in the favor of Roberr Jacobsen of the JMRI project. Importantly, the decision makes the point that the Artistic License is a contract, an interpretation which the Free Software Foundation has been keen to avoid as a legal stance."

A US federal appeals court overturned a judge’s ruling that granted Novell the copyright of the Unix computer OS yesterday. A panel of three judges of the 10th US circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a judge in the August 2007 case wrongfully handed the copyright to Novell. As a result the panel has ordered a “remand for trial” to establish ownership.

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit short history 1982 to today and how the interpretation of patent law radically changed, leading to e.g. software patents. The pro-patent Federal Circuit has also "overruled" the Supreme Court.

Open source software has long been accepted as a legitimate software license by tech-savvy crowds. It's become recognised by business. And even the courts are taking seriously open source software authors rights despite the fact no money has changed hands.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) and Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) must stand trial on charges they violated the federal anti-racketeering laws, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

Today, Red Hat took a public stand challenging the standards for patenting software. In the Biliski case that is now before the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, this patent issue is ripe for consideration.

The GNU General Public License (GPL) is often described as "Copyleft" because it turns traditional copyright on its head to make code freer than traditional proprietary copyright licenses. Taking that a step further, some developers are embracing the Unlicense, a license that "disclaims" copyright interest in a piece of code altogether.