Introduction

1 This guide is issued by the State Services Commission (SSC) to assist New Zealand government agencies assess and mitigate some of the legal risks of using open source software.

2 Government agencies are increasingly using open source software. They acquire it through a variety of channels, including staff downloading open source code from the Internet, or external developers providing bespoke software with open source components. The open source software so acquired may be contained in stand-alone applications, integrated with other systems or distributed to third parties.

3 The main benefit of using open source software is that the software is available free of charge, under licences that permit modification and redistribution. This is in contrast to the restrictive rights normally granted under commercial licences. However, while the use of open source software has many positive features, it does pose a number of legal risks. Some of these risks are shared with commercial software, and some arise because of the unique nature of open source licensing.

4 As previously stated in SSC's Ministerial Briefing Paper of March 2003 (see www.e.govt.nz/policy/open-source/open-source-200303), agencies are encouraged to consider open source software on the same basis as commercial software. Agencies should base their decisions on the overall merits of the software concerned. This means weighing the legal risks of the software, together with the usual factors such as cost, functionality, interoperability and security.

5 The legal risks associated with commercial licences appear to be reasonably well understood. By identifying, and recommending methods for managing the legal risks of using open source software, this guide should give agencies more confidence in evaluating and using open source software as an alternative to commercial software.