Open-source software has been in widespread use for longer than most people realize-consider the majority of websites running on Apache Web server software for more than a decade. It has particularly flourished in the business community over the last several years, despite some uncertainty regarding the legal status of open source software licenses. But an opinion by the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week is likely to go a long way toward dispelling that uncertainty.

In substance, the court ruled that the open source licensors in some circumstances will have recourse under copyright law, and it did so in definitive terms: "Copyright holders who engage in open source licensing have the right to control the modification and distribution of copyrighted material."

The ruling in Jacobsen v. Katzer concerns an open source software program made available in source code form for download and use by the public, free of charge, subject to the provisions of the open source "Artistic License."

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