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The explosive growth of the Internet in the past 10 years has brought new challenges to copyright owners wishing to protect unauthorized distribution and use of their works. However, it has also prompted the development of new licensing mechanisms for those wanting to share their works. These non-traditional mechanisms have supported the open source movement which has allowed the development of functionally competitive free alternatives to copyrighted commercial software, including operating systems such as LINUX, office suites such as OpenOffice (a free alternative to Microsoft Office) and Web browsers such as Firefox. Such open source software is distributed pursuant to licensing terms that allow it to be used and distributed at no charge, and in a way which ensures that enhancements developed by others are also shared with the community. The use of such software is growing in popularity and beginning to eat into Microsoft’s market share.

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