In the age of open source and large scale outsourcing, assuring the quality of software must comprise ascertaining its legal compliance as well. Numerous legal cases in recent years have highlighted the business risks and the enormous costs incurred when this is not done properly. The costs may come from involvement in judicial procedures, withdrawing of software from the field, fixing legal compliance issues post-release, delays in the development process and lost time-in-the-market, or undervalued corporate assessment at an investment event or in a merger or acquisition.

Software is a pervasive element in most products and processes nowadays. It comes from internal developments, from suppliers of sub-systems and chips, from outsourced development contractors, from open source repositories or simply from the previous work of the developers themselves. Software, unlike hardware, is easily replicable, accesses, copied and re-used.

Open source software has become a significant player in most software development, thanks to the wealth of source code available, its apparently free cost and its high degree of stability and security. Open source code is generally cost free. But it is not without obligations.

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