Case summary
Holger Dyroff, co-founder of enterprise file-sync-and-share startup ownCloud, is facing a difficult intellectual property decision. Some parts of ownCloud’s product suite are open source software, some are not. Using a multiple licensing strategy, ownCloud has tried to upsell non-paying users to paying customers. However, it is not always clear which part of the strategy cause which effects and now developers and community are asking to fully open source the apps that complement the server product. Just what to do?
Example case question [1]
- What should Dyroff do about the Android and iOS apps?
Case difficulty cube [2]
- Analytical dimension: Average
- Conceptual dimension: Difficult
- Presentation dimension: Average
Freely available materials
- Case 2016-01: Getting Licensing Right at ownCloud
- Concepts and frameworks