Founders and Board of Directors

Open Bar was founded by Gwyn Firth Murray and Jason B. Wacha as 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation.

The founders, both lawyers with extensive experience in the area of open source software, created Open Bar, Inc. as a conduit for (i) developing clear information about the legal rights and responsibilities of software developers, legal professionals and users of software in the emerging arena of open source/free software; and (ii) educating software developers, legal professionals and the general public about the issues, rights and responsibilities associated with the development, use and distribution of open source/free software.

Gwyn Firth Murray (Founder; Director)

Gwyn Firth Murray was one of the “early adopters” in the legal community of a focus on open source software development in the commercial context. She is founder and principal of the Matau Legal Group, which offers a broad range of commercial, licensing, and other legal services to both start-up and established companies in the high tech and biotech industries (see www.mataulegal.com). Gwyn is also Vice-Chair of the Open Source Committee of the ABA section of Science and Technology. Gwyn has spent over fifteen years working as inside and outside counsel to computer hardware, computer software and pharmaceutical companies, including Apple Computer, SGI, and Alza Corporation. Gwyn was the first lawyer to join VA Linux Systems, Inc. (now “VA Software”) as internal counsel, and she served as Vice President, Legal Services for VA during its first year as a public company. After leaving VA, she went on to become Vice President and General Counsel of Kanisa Inc., a privately-held software company based in Cupertino, California, before undertaking her own law practice. Gwyn has extensive international experience and is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese. She is a graduate of Stanford University Law School, and also holds an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Stanford University. She obtained her B.A. magna cum laude and with distinction in economics from Yale College.

Jason B. Wacha (Founder)

Recognized by the San Francisco Daily Journal as “one of the country's preeminent experts on open source software licensing”, Jason supervises MontaVista Software's worldwide legal and corporate policies and practices, and develops and implements the company's intellectual property strategy. (See www.mvista.com) Jason speaks nationally and internationally, lectures at law schools, and is a published author on open source licensing and the GPL. He is also a contributing columnist to the Enterprise Open Source Journal. Jason was previously a VP and General Counsel for Advanced Data Exchange, an electronic document exchange company, and also practiced law with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, where he focused on technology licensing, financings, and mergers & acquisitions for public and privately held clients concentrated in the high technology and biotechnology arenas. Jason has a J.D. from the University of California, Davis, where he was an editor of the U.C. Davis Law Review, and has degrees in economics and English from Stanford University.

Karen Copenhaver (Director)

Ms. Copenhaver is General Counsel of Black Duck Software, Inc. and a partner in the Business & Technology Group of Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP in Boston, MA. Prior to joining Black Duck, Karen was a partner in the Patent and Intellectual Property Group of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault LLP practicing in the area of technology licensing. Karen began her legal career at IBM in New York and held various counsel positions in marketing and development locations, including serving for ten years as site counsel for the semiconductor development labs and manufacturing facilities in Burlington, Vermont. In 1992 she joined Brown & Bain PA working with technology clients in their offices in Phoenix, Arizona, and Silicon Valley. She has served as an adjunct professor at Suffolk Law School in the field of Computer Law, lectured at Suffolk's Advanced Legal Series conferences on copyright law and sophisticated licensing issues, served as chair for the Practicing Law Institute's annual conference on Structuring, Negotiating and Implementing Strategic Alliances, and is a frequent speaker at conferences devoted to issues relating to open source licensing. Karen is a graduate of Dickinson School of Law (JD, 1979), is admitted to practice in New York, Vermont, California and Massachusetts.

Mitchell Baker

Mitchell is President of the Mozilla Foundation and a member of Board of Directors of the Open Source Applications Foundation.

Till Jaeger

Till Jaeger is a Partner of JBB Rechtsanwälte in Munich and co-founder of the Institute for Legal Questions on Free and Open Source Software (ifrOSS).

Heather Meeker

Heather is a Partner at Greenberg Traurig LLP and Co-Chair of the Open Source Committee of the ABA Section of Science and Technology Law.

Diane M. Peters

Diane is General Counsel of the Open Source Development Labs and a Director of the Software Freedom Law Center.

Mark Radcliffe

Mark is a Partner at DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US LLP and General Counsel for the Open Source Initiative.

Dan Ravicher

Dan is the founder and Executive Director of the Public Patent Foundation, Senior Counsel to the Free Software Foundation and the Legal Director of the Software Freedom Law Center.

Larry Rosen

Larry is a Partner at Rosenlaw & Einschlag and author of “Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law.”