Bruce Perens Joins Open Source Risk Management's Board of Directors

"Collective legal defense is the next necessary step for Open Source to be ready for business," said Bruce Perens. "Through a concentration of legal resources and expertise, OSRM will be a formidable power against the legal opponents to Open Source. My intention is to help ensure its efforts are consistent with the ethos of the Open Source movement."

In addition to his founding role in the Open Source movement, Perens also co-founded the Open Source Initiative, an organization dedicated to managing and promoting the OSD, the Linux Standard Base, and No-Code International. He released his first Free Software program, Electric Fence, in 1987, and is the creator of Busybox, which is part of most commercial devices using embedded Linux.

Perens is also the editor of a book series titled Bruce Perens' Open Source Series, and is Senior Research Scientist for Open Source at George Washington University's Cyber Security Policy Research Institute. Perens is an elected director of Software in the Public Interest, Inc. and spends significant time working on patent policy issues of standards organizations in conjunction with his own research organization.

Previously, Perens spent two years as Senior Global Strategist for Linux and Open Source at HP and was president of Linux Capital Group, a venture capital fund specializing in Linux. Prior to that, he spent 20 years in computer graphic animation, including 12 years at Pixar Animation Studios.

"A highly respected leader in the Open Source movement, Bruce will provide OSRM with invaluable expertise as we work to provide legal infrastructure to the Open Source community," said Daniel Egger, OSRM founder and chairman. "We are thrilled to have his unique insight into both the technical and legal intricacies of Open Source."

About Open Source Risk Management
Supported by top Open Source leaders and intellectual property (IP) legal experts, Open Source Risk Management (OSRM) is the industry's only vendor- neutral provider of Open Source risk mitigation, indemnification, and coordinated legal defense services. OSRM helps organizations assess potential legal risks around their use of Open Source, and design risk mitigation solutions based on a set of best practice protocols. Additionally, OSRM provides indemnification for legal claims against Open Source, currently offering legal backing for the Linux kernel versions 2.4 and 2.6. Through its Open Source Legal Defense Center, OSRM also works in tandem with highly specialized software IP lawyers to offer coordinated legal defense services.

For more information, please visit http://www.osriskmanagement.com/.

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Karen Duffin
Bite Communications
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