Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Caring about AGPL - Open Source in Hong Kong

Just arrived in Hong Kong Tuesday night and besides being an amazing city, I had discussions here which triggered some thoughts.






In the US and Europe, it has been relatively seldom that an open source discussion has been centered around AGPL, but it Hong Kong, AGPL turns out to be a really hot topic. The number of "Rolex" watches you get offered when walking down the street in Hong Kong seems to justify why we often think of China and Hong Kong as caring little about intellectual property. However, Hong Kong has changed a lot over the last decade as noted by U.S. Consul General, Hong Kong, James B. Cunningham, and large international Hong Kong based companies appear to be at least as concerned with intellectual property as any large company in the West. In addition to that, the Western companies may actually be the one focused on yesterday's problem and not staying on top of intellectual property issues. The attention to AGPL and its implications is certainly an indicator of that.


Who understands software IP in the 21st century










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