Open Source software does not violate anti-trust laws

A legal battle in the US has concluded that Open Source software does not violate anti-trust laws.

It centers on a case brought by a Daniel Wallace against IBM, and Linux developers Novell, and Red Hat.

He claimed that the provision of free open source software by these companies undermined the ability for proprietary software developers to enter niche markets.

The claim had already been rejected by a lower court, and upon appeal was quickly rejected.

The court papers of the judgement point out that even where there are direct challenges to proprietary software by open source releases, proprietary software is often able to claim major market share.