Levin out as Black Duck's CEO

Black Duck Software -- a pioneer in the open source legal consulting business -- has lost its CEO.

On Thursday, Douglas Levin, the company founder and a director at the Waltham,  Mass.-based company, announced his resignation, effective Sept. 1.

The announcement came the same day that a federal appeals court issued a decision maintaining that open source licenses are valid under copyright law. Black Duck Software is a software and services company that advises developers and corporations about open source licensing requirements and compliance.

Are the two related?

No, Levin said in a broadcast email and blog posted yesterday.

"Friends, with this email and other announcements today I started the process of transitioning out of the CEO position at Black Duck Software as we start the search process for my replacement. As the founder of Black Duck I have been a member of the Board of Directors from its inception," he wrote. "Starting on September 1st I will continue in my role as a member of the Board of Directors and act in an advisory capacity to the Office of the Presidency, extended executive management team and, in general, the company."

"This is not a sudden decision ... quite the opposite," he wrote. "It has been planned since early this year. It has taken months to put into place. I am doing this now because Black Duck is in great shape. We have a very experienced executive and extended management team in place; engineering, sales and marketing, and other operational parts of the company are very strong, and the market for Black Duck technologies and services is very strong. I have the desire to investigate some promising startup opportunities. I will begin customer and market research soonafter taking a nice, long vacation."   He pledged to work with existing management to help run the company's newly formed Office of the Presidency.