Thursday, July 26, 2007

Open Source: Japan

If I ever had any doubts about the international interest in Open Source, they were laid to rest last week. I was visiting clients in Tokyo (missed the typhoon, but was there for the earthquakes) and asked a friend if the Licensing Executive Society of Japan would be interested in a presentation on the new General Public License Version 3. Even though they only had a week's advance notice, they had 30 lawyers show up for the two hour presentation. Given lawyer's hectic schedules, such a turn out on such short notice indicates a strong interest. We had a wide variety of participants ranging from inhouse counsel at major companies to private lawyers to law professors. It was a very interesting and enlightening experience.