Chicago — A not-for-profit organization that will be launched by two lawyers this week will seek to provide information to companies concerned about the legal ramifications of using open-source software.

The new organization, known as Open Bar Inc. (Palo Alto, Calif.), is embarking on its effort while IBM Corp. and SCO Group Inc. continue their billion-dollar Linux infringement battle in a Utah court. SCO (Lindon, Utah) has also sought royalties from users of open-source software that it claims utilizes code to which it holds rights.

Open Bar's founders, Jason Wacha and Gwyn Firth Murray, said last week that their goal is to provide education and legal information to corporations concerned about the legal vulnerabilities associated with the use of Linux or other forms of open-source software.

Linux disturbance
"A few years ago, if you knew anything about the legal issues surrounding open-source software, you were one of a handful of people," said Wacha, who is also general counsel for MontaVista Software Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.). "But a couple of years from now, if you're a technology lawyer who doesn't know about open source, you'll be behind the curve."

The need for such knowledge became especially important in 2003, when SCO Group sent an ominously worded letter to 1,500 corporations around the world, advising them to seek legal counsel if they used Linux. The letter, which went out to some of the biggest corporations in the world, including 500 "Fortune 1,000" companies, sent ripples of fear through much of the business community, which was largely unfamiliar with open-source legal issues.

Open Bar plans to deal with that unfamiliarity by uploading legal presentations to its Web site (www.open-bar.org), conducting seminars, running online discussion groups and steering questioners to legal experts familiar with the complexities of open-source law.

The site's sponsors include several legal firms — Gunderson Dettmer, Cooley Godward and Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner — as well as MontaVista Software, which is a provider of development software and Linux platforms.

The organization's official launch will take place this Wednesday at Gunderson Dettmer LLP's principal office.

Wacha said last week that Open Bar was not formed as an advocacy group, but rather as an educational source.

"We don't want to advocate any particular position or be a politically affiliated organization," he said. "We want all viewpoints regarding open source on our site."

Wacha added that Open Bar does not want to promote the kind of emotional responses that have grown characteristic of some Linux-based Web sites.

"If Microsoft wants to give us a presentation saying that shared source is great, and that there are risks associated with open source, then we'll post it," Wacha said. "We want people to be educated about the risks."