European Open Source & Free Software Law Event (EOLE 2018)

At the event, the European Commission will present a concept paper on the Joinup Licensing Assistant. 

As part of its annual conference cycle, this year the European Open source & free software Law Event (EOLE) will take place during the Paris Open Source Summit 2018. At this event Patrice-Emmanuel Schmitz, Joinup Legal and Licensing Expert, will present the concept of the Joinup Licensing Assistant.

As the lack of legal interoperability remains one of the main barriers to achieving overall interoperability within the framework of operable e-government software solutions, the Joinup Licensing Assistant concept aims to provide a user-friendly tool that would support developers and IT managers in their choice of licensing. Currently, the Joinup Licensing Assistant draft white paper is being consulted with the European Commission services as well as facilitators of the Open Source Observatory and the European Union Public Licence (EUPL) collections on Joinup. 

The draft White Paper catalogues a diverse set of tools that have been implemented by both the ISA² Programme in Joinup and by other external organisations to support solution developers in their choice of licensing.  It also identifies the need and opportunity to implement a new solution in the framework of Joinup - the Joinup Licensing Assistant - which would not only be simple to use but would also reuse the existing software developed for EU projects and be based on available state-of-the-art standards. It further makes an assessment of the solution’s governance and maintenance, which could be primarily based on the volunteer contributions of the wider “EUPL community” - a group of 130 individuals interested in open source licensing issues that is currently directed and moderated by the European Commission and legal experts. The development costs will be limited by reusing the existing software developed for the European Data Portal.

The presentation of the draft White Paper at the EOLE track TOOLS&COMPLIANCE will be followed by the open discussion with the session participants. It will help assess the utility, advantages, and possible weaknesses of this concept as well as the contribution potential of volunteers from the EOLE community. Also, the White Paper will be published on Joinup and open for comments on the day of the session.

Time: Wednesday, 5 December 2018, 11.15-12.45
Location: Room "Projection", "Les Docks de Paris", Bâtiment 139, 87 Avenue des Magasins Généraux Aubervilliers, 93300 Saint-Denis (Paris - France)