O’Melveny Lawyers Author Article on Initial Artifex Ruling for Law360

May 23, 2017

O'Melveny partners Heather Meeker and Darin Snyder, and associate Jesse Koehler co-authored the Law360 article “Initial Artifex Ruling Is a Victory for Open-Source Software” published May 18, 2017. 

The US District Court for the Northern District of California recently issued an opinion that is being hailed as a victory for open-source software. In this case, the court denied a motion to dismiss a lawsuit alleging violation of an open-source software license, paving the way for further action enforcing the conditions of the GNU General Public License. 

“Private enforcers may have different goals and strategies from community organizations, so companies using open-source software now need to be prepared to handle a greater variety of claims,” the authors conclude.

Meeker resides in O’Melveny’s Silicon Valley office and advises technology clients on intellectual property matters. Snyder, who resides in the firm’s San Francisco office, has extensive experience in major civil and criminal litigation matters involving intellectual property and technology-intensive business sectors. Also based in San Francisco, Koehler helps clients with novel and complex issues involving trademark/trade dress, design patent, copyright, and publicity/privacy, whether by counseling, negotiation, or litigation.