Protecting Your IP When Using Open-Source: Policy, Practice, and Automation
Using open-source libraries can accelerate product delivery—but if left unchecked, they can introduce legal risk and threaten your company’s intellectual property. Learn how to identify and mitigate restrictive licenses, build proper attribution workflows, and integrate tools like Black Duck SCA to stay compliant and protected.
Brandon Wilburn
May 01, 2025
Protecting Your IP When Using Open-Source
Open-source software (OSS) is foundational to modern product development. From frameworks to database engines, its ubiquity allows engineering teams to move faster and focus on differentiated value. But with great acceleration comes great responsibility. Left unmanaged, OSS introduces potential landmines in the form of restrictive licenses—particularly when you intend to commercialize or protect the IP built on top of it.
This article outlines how technology leaders can protect proprietary IP by building robust open-source governance practices. We'll cover:
- Identifying and mitigating restrictive OSS licenses
- Documenting usage in codebases, release notes, and product UIs
- Automating governance with tools like Black Duck Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
- Key KPIs, policies, and executive best practices for ongoing risk management
Understanding License Types and Restrictions
Not all open-source licenses are created equal. Some are permissive and friendly to proprietary software; others have "viral" terms that can force disclosure of source code or compromise ownership.
Common OSS License Categories
| License Type | Examples | Key Restrictions |
|---|---|---|
| Permissive | MIT, Apache 2.0, BSD | Minimal restrictions; attribution required |
| Weak Copyleft | MPL, LGPL | Changes to OSS must be open; proprietary linking allowed |
| Strong Copyleft | GPL, AGPL | Derived works must also be open-source |
Red Flags for Commercial Products
- GPL / AGPL libraries in core application logic
- Dual-licensed libraries without clarity on commercial use terms
- Obscure licenses with unclear obligations
Tip: The presence of a GPL-licensed dependency—even indirectly—can trigger the obligation to open source your product.
Best Practices to Mitigate Risk
To stay compliant and protect IP, organizations must embed OSS management across the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
Evaluate Before You Integrate
- Conduct license checks before approving OSS libraries
- Maintain an internal "approved libraries" registry
- Use an Open Source Review Board (OSRB) for edge cases
Document OSS Transparently
- In code: Include license headers in files containing OSS-derived content
- In release notes: List third-party packages with license type and source links
- In product UI: Add an "Open Source Acknowledgments" section with full attributions
Legal Guardrails
Maintain a central policy defining:
- Approved license types
- Review and approval workflows
- Developer responsibilities
Collaborate with legal early and often...
Automating OSS Compliance with Software Composition Analysis (SCA)
Manual tracking quickly becomes unsustainable. That’s where Software Composition Analysis (SCA) tools come in.
Leading SCA Tools
| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| Black Duck | License and vulnerability scanning with policy enforcement |
| Snyk | Developer-friendly scanning integrated into CI tools |
| FOSSA | License compliance focus with strong CI/CD support |
| WhiteSource (Mend) | Real-time license alerts and remediation support |
Implementation Guidance
- Integrate SCA into your CI/CD pipelines
- Set fail gates for license violations
- Export reports regularly for legal and audit visibility
- Monitor transitive dependencies introduced by upstream packages
KPIs and Executive-Level Metrics
To maintain oversight and accountability, track the following key indicators:
| KPI | Description |
|---|---|
| % of libraries with permissive licenses | Target >95% for commercial applications |
| # of unresolved license violations | Should trend toward zero |
| Time to resolve license conflicts | Indicates maturity of governance workflow |
| Frequency of SCA scan failures | Reflects proactive vs. reactive practices |
| Coverage of OSS acknowledgments | Ensures transparency in external-facing assets |
Organizational Challenges and Political Considerations
Rolling out mature OSS governance isn’t always smooth:
- Engineering Resistance: Developers may view compliance as overhead
- Product Pressure: Fast launches can deprioritize legal diligence
- Legal Bottlenecks: Understaffed legal teams can't scale without automation
Culture Shift
Reframe OSS governance not as a blocker—but as a way to safeguard innovation. Your IP is only as defensible as your OSS chain is compliant.
Knowing You’re Successful: OKRs to Align On
A mature OSS strategy will reflect in these outcomes:
- 100% OSS attribution in major releases
- No license violations in production environments
- OSS usage reviewed quarterly across legal, product, and engineering
- Developers can self-serve approvals via a vetted OSS library
Example OKR:
Objective: Ensure OSS license compliance across all services by Q3
- KR1: Complete SCA scan coverage in CI pipelines across all repos
- KR2: Reduce OSS license violations to <2 per quarter
- KR3: Publish open-source attributions in product UIs for 100% of GA features
Conclusion
Open-source software is a critical asset—but without structure, it can become a liability. Building a disciplined OSS usage model that balances innovation speed with IP protection is an executive imperative.
By codifying best practices, empowering teams with automation, and aligning legal and engineering goals, you can safely build on the shoulders of giants—without giving away your crown jewels.
Affiliate Disclosure
About Brandon Wilburn
As a technology and business thought leader, Brandon Wilburn is currently the Chief Architect at Spirent Communications leading the Lifecycle Service Assurance business unit. He provides vision and drives the company's strategic initiates through customer and vendor engagements, value stream product deliveries, multi-national reorganization, cross-vertical engineering efficiencies, business development, and Innovation Lab creation.
Brandon works with CEOs, CTOs, GMs, R&D VPs, and other leaders to achieve successful business outcomes for multinational organizations in highly technical and challenging domains. He provides direct counsel to executives on markets, strategy, acquisitions, and execution.
With an effortless communication style that transcends engineering, technology, and marketing, Brandon is adept at engaging marquee customers, quickly building relationships, creating strategic alignment, and delivering customer value.
He has generated new multi-national R&D Innovation Lab organization from inception to scaled delivery, ultimately 70 resources strong with a 5mil annual budget, leveraging FTEs and consulting talent from United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, and India all delivering new products together successfully. He directed and fostered the latest in best practices in organization structure, methodology, and engineering for products and platforms.
Brandon believes strongly in an organization's culture, organizing internal and external events such as Hackathons and Demo Days to support and propagate a positive the engineering community.