IP indemnification more than an open source issue, says IDC

In a recent Viewpoint, IDC's Stephen Graham said that while its tempting to equate IP indemnification as an issue between conventionally licensed software versus open source software, it clearly involves much more than that. He encouraged organizations to examine the indemnification polices of every software vendor, because any vendor may do a good or poor job of protecting its customers. "More than 50% of organizations having or developing a policy say their policy requires legal counsel to review and approve purchases and that they give preference to vendors providing indemnification," he said.

Vendors, on the other hand, should also do more than provide IP indemnification, he added. They should include more activities centered on IP management, such as internal IP management processes; IP protection measures (including copyright, patent, trademark and trade secret protection); IP trade practices and IP indemnification.This approach, according to Graham, allows both end users and vendors the ability to gauge potential risk and manage IP appropriately.