Say no to locked-down devices that limit our freedom to install apps and
switch operating systems. Say yes to device neutrality, which ensures that
we control our own hardware! Your device, your choice! Support our demand
for the right to install any software on our devices.
The Free Software Legal and Licensing Workshop (also known as the
LLW) is organized every year by the FSFE to allow legal experts
to discuss legal issues and best practices surrounding Free
Software licences. This event has become the world’s foremost
gathering of lawyers, technologists, and thought leaders on Free
Software legal and licensing topics. With up to three days of
talks in an informal and confidential atmosphere, the Workshop
advances the state of the art of knowledge on topics ranging from
license compliance to patent management, from project governance
to corporate responsibility and even further to the cutting edge
issues themselves.
Participation in the LLW provides legal professionals not only
the opportunity to share knowledge and updates on the topics they
are working on, but also a chance to meet and get acquainted with
each other. These two aspects, combined, foster better license
compliance by spreading best practices. The conference also
provides a forum for different professionals to better understand
each other, thus reducing the overall friction in the sector.
Participation in the LLW is open to all Legal Network members.
Invitations might be extended to non-members. If you think you
might qualify, please send an e-mail directly to the Legal
Coordinator, or to our contact address.
In April, our work on Device Neutrality continued with news and
meetings on DMA; we had a PMPC meeting in Germany and talked about the
German coalition agreement in one of our Podcast episodes; we also held
our annual Legal & Licensing Workshop; and we published another
article in our Legal Corner.
The Free Software
Legal & Licensing Workshop convened once again, this time in Essen,
bringing together over 100 legal and compliance
professionals, technologists, and policy experts from across the globe.
The 2025 edition delved into the evolving
legal landscapes impacting Free Software, with a particular focus on
Artificial Intelligence and cybersecurity.
May comes with legal news such as the Legal & Licensing Workshop and
the Bitcoin lawsuit regarding the liability of Free Software developers.
We also talked to two 2023 YH4F participants and our Danish local group
sent an Open Letter to their parliament. Did you see that Ada &
Zangemann won a prize and that the French ebook version is now
available?
For the second year in a row, the Swedish city of Gothenburg hosted an
edition of the Free Software Legal & Licensing Workshop (LLW), the
annual conference for Legal Network members. The 2024 edition brought
new faces and great discussions and presentations on current legal and
licensing issues related to technological developments such as AI.
In this issue, you can read about the EU project NGI Zero, LLW, the
FOSS-North conference, and the struggle of Lithuanian students to avoid
using proprietary 2FA. Don't miss our new SFP episode on Device
Neutrality; deepen your knowledge with two interesting articles; enjoy
the latest ‘Ada & Zangemann’ readings; and discover two YH4F projects.