The General Public License might well be one of the top ten most influential legal documents of the 20th century. It certainly is one of the most influential legal documents that most lawyers have no awareness of.
On August 24 and 25, the Free Software Foundation will be putting on a two-day, in-depth seminar at Stanford University on the GPL and other aspects of Free Software and Open Source software. If you are involved in technology law, this program is one to take a good hard look at to see if you can attend. With presenters like Dan Ravicher, you are going to get as good an understanding of the GPL as it is possible to get in two days. For more information on the GPL and the Open Source licenses, my Open Source License Law Resource Page is a good starting point.
In my case, I’ll be at LawNet at the same time, where I’ll be speaking about KM on behalf of SydneyPLUS and hoping to get the chance to meet up with some of the legal tech bloggers who will be attending.
I got the grand tour of SydneyPLUS’s kmBuilder yesterday and it impressed the heck out of me for several reasons. First, it seems extraordinarily “forgiving” in that it allows you to make major modifications and revisions to database templates and fields on the fly, allowing great customization. Second, they come into legal KM from a strong library and library science background, making their approach to handling information much more nuanced and friendly than the typical law firm IT department approach. Third, well, you will have to attend my presentation.