There have been several studies in the past which have investigated legal issues pertaining to copyrights, policies and regulations, and liability as it relates to warranty (or lack of it). However, what is new from this workshop is the focus on providing guidance to Government managers in establishing and operating reuse libraries. Since reuse libraries have not existed very long, many library managers are finding it difficult to develop agreements and determine the best legal approach to operations and interactions with others. The proceedings of this workshop will help meet that need. In general, Government lawyers are not knowledgeable about software reuse and in turn are not able to provide the necessary support to Government managers. This workshop addressed this issue by getting Government lawyers together to take an interest in reuse and to provide them with background information on reuse.
The Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO) sponsored conference on legal issues in software reuse [#!SDIO!#], held in Colorado in 1990, addressed legal issues that could arise in establishing reuse libraries. However, some questions were left unanswered. A member of that workshop brought the unanswered questions to the CARDS workshop, where most of them were answered. The discussion of library legal issues tended to focus on the industry perspective rather than that of the Government, while the CARDS workshop focussed on the Government viewpoint.
Last year, CARDS developed two guidebooks, the Direction Level Handbook [#!CARDS92!#] and the Acquisition Handbook [#!CARDS93a!#], which provided guidance to acquisition executives and Program Managers, respectively, in incorporating software reuse into the acquisition cycle. They cover planning the acquisition strategy through awarding the contract to managing the effort and follow-on support.
Legal issues, such as software rights, liabilities, recoupment, license agreements, royalties, incentives, warranties, are discussed only as they pertain to acquisition planning for a particular system. Additional contractual guidance was provided to assess risk, choose contract types, develop Requests for Proposal (RFPs), Contract Data Requirements List (CDRLs), and evaluate criteria for reuse. Neither document addressed reuse library issues.
The Software Technology for Adaptable, Reliable Systems (STARS) program sponsored a study [#!STARS!#] to examine the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and all its supplements, as well as budget/finance regulation impediments, in the way data rights and software is contracted and for any cost restrictions and financial disincentives. This report documents the FAR environment with respect to software development, software reusability and the use of commercially available software and proposes changes to the FAR and DoD Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) to promote reuse of software products. Liability is discussed only with respect to warranty (or lack of) of the software. Unnecessary cost restrictions and disincentives to providing financial resources for software reuse and for reusing commercially available software are also documented. However, the study does not focus on libraries nor other aspects of liability.
The DoD Center for Software Reuse Operations' report on legal and acquisition issues primarily discusses acquisition and contractual topics and recommends changes to the FAR and DFARS [#!CSRO!#]. It does have some discussion of agreements and some examples. However, discussion focusses on ownership, incentives and liability as it relates to warranty and third party users.