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DoD Opens Dialogue With Industry on Open-Source Software

Client Alert | less than 1 min read | 12.07.11

Pursuant to a December 5 notice, DoD is hosting a public meeting on January 12, 2012, to obtain input from industry on the use of open-source software in its contracts.  DoD seeks to initiate dialogue in three main areas: (1) risks of copyright infringement liability for the Government and contractors who use or deliver open-source software and when that software includes proprietary or copyrighted material, (2) performance and warranty deficiencies faced by contractors when delivered open-source software does not meet contract requirements, and (3) whether the DFARS should be revised to delineate the Government’s rights when a contractor acquires open-source software for the Government.

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Client Alert | 4 min read | 08.13.26

Supreme Court Confirms Contractual Loss of Bargain Without Repudiatory Breach

English law has long treated the choice between terminating for repudiatory breach and exercising a contractual termination right as consequential. Under the Financings[1] causation principle, a party exercising a contractual right for a non-repudiatory breach could recover losses accrued to the date of termination — but nothing more. Loss of bargain was out of reach unless the breach went to the root of the contract. A practical workaround, confirmed in Lombard,[2] was to designate the relevant obligation as a condition, elevating any breach to repudiatory status, but that device carries significant strategic risk if the termination is later found to have been wrongful....