In 2006, the Department of Defense (DoD) published a seminal document, the Open Technology Development (OTD) Roadmap, recommending the adoption of "open" technologies and practices within the DoD. The document advocates the adoption of open standards and interfaces, open source software, online collaborative tools, and technological agility in the acquisition and production of DoD software. The key motivation is to enable rapid deployment of the latest technology for the benefit of the warfighter.

There are multiple challenges associated with implementing OTD. Technical challenges are associated with developing software utilizing open source software, standards, design, and interfaces. Cultural challenges involve managing software processes for teams that may be geographically dispersed. Finally, there are legal challenges such as copyright, intellectual property, and licensing associated with the reuse of software components.

The technical and cultural challenges listed above are beginning to be well understood and have been documented through DoD case studies. However, the legal ramifications of adopting OTD have yet to be fully explored and understood. The OTD Roadmap itself provides little guidance on the impact of intellectual property, copyright, and distribution issues related to open software. This paper attempts to answer some of the common legal questions that arise with adoption of Open Technogies. We provide a high level overview of popular open source software licenses and describe terms and conditions associated with distributing software under these licenses. We also provide guidance on how to protect intellectual property and minimize the risk associated with the adoption of open source software.