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Research Note ---The Impact of Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement on Open Source Software Project Success

Author

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  • Wen Wen

    (McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712)

  • Chris Forman

    (Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30308)

  • Stuart J. H. Graham

    (Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30308)

Abstract

We investigate how intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement against developers and users of open source software (OSS) affects the success of related OSS projects. We hypothesize that when an IPR enforcement action is filed, user interest and developer activity will be negatively affected in two types of related OSS projects---those that display technology overlap with the OSS application in dispute and business projects that are specific to the disputed OSS platform. We examine two widely publicized lawsuits--- SCO v. IBM and FireStar/DataTern v. Red Hat ---using data from SourceForge.net. Our difference-in-difference estimates show that in the months following the filing of SCO v. IBM , OSS projects that exhibit high technology overlap with the disputed OSS experienced a 15% greater decline in user interest and 45% less developer activity than projects in the control group; OSS projects that are intended for business and specific to the disputed OSS platform had a 34% greater decline in user interest and 86% less developer activity than the control group. We find similar results following the filing of FireStar/DataTern v. Red Hat . Our results are also robust to a variety of robustness checks, including a falsification exercise and subsample analyses.

Suggested Citation

  • Wen Wen & Chris Forman & Stuart J. H. Graham, 2013. "Research Note ---The Impact of Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement on Open Source Software Project Success," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 24(4), pages 1131-1146, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orisre:v:24:y:2013:i:4:p:1131-1146
    DOI: 10.1287/isre.2013.0479
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    5. Wen Wen & Marco Ceccagnoli & Chris Forman, 2016. "Opening Up Intellectual Property Strategy: Implications for Open Source Software Entry by Start-up Firms," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(9), pages 2668-2691, September.
    6. Shane Greenstein & Feng Zhu, 2016. "Open Content, Linus’ Law, and Neutral Point of View," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 27(3), pages 618-635.
    7. Tobias Kretschmer & Christian Peukert, 2020. "Video Killed the Radio Star? Online Music Videos and Recorded Music Sales," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 776-800, September.
    8. Christian Peukert, 2019. "The next wave of digital technological change and the cultural industries," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(2), pages 189-210, June.
    9. Shuk Ying Ho & Arun Rai, 2017. "Continued Voluntary Participation Intention in Firm-Participating Open Source Software Projects," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 28(3), pages 603-625, September.
    10. Kwon, Seokbeom & Marco, Alan C., 2021. "Can antitrust law enforcement spur innovation? Antitrust regulation of patent consolidation and its impact on follow-on innovations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(9).
    11. Knut Blind & Torben Schubert, 2024. "Estimating the GDP effect of Open Source Software and its complementarities with R&D and patents: evidence and policy implications," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 466-491, April.
    12. Christian Peukert & Margaritha Windisch, 2023. "The Economics of Copyright in the Digital Age," CESifo Working Paper Series 10687, CESifo.

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