The belief of Daniel Egger, founder of OSRM - provider of "code-scanning and copyright infringement detection technologies, risk assessment, risk mitigation consulting, best practices training and certification, vendor-neutral indemnification and custom insurance to the Global 1000" - is that, by fostering a collaborative, community-based model for identifying and mitigating relevant litigation risks, OSRM will be able to offer its comprehensive insurance at the lowest possible cost.

Bruce Perens evidently agrees. "Collective legal defense is the next necessary step for open source to be ready for business," he said in a statement on Friday.

"Through a concentration of legal resources and expertise," Perens added, "Open Source Risk Management will be a formidable power against the legal opponents to Open Source."

When Pamela Jones joined the company in February, she too said that she sees a need for "low-cost vendor-neutral protection that will at the same time make it possible to allow continued free modification of the code."

"No one else has successfully done so," observed Jones, adding: "I believe OSRM has come up with the right answer."

"A highly respected leader in the Open Source movement, Bruce will provide OSRM with invaluable expertise as we work to provide legal infrastructure to the Open Source community," said Daniel Egger, OSRM founder and chairman. "We are thrilled to have his unique insight into both the technical and legal intricacies of Open Source."

Open Source Risk Management LLC was started last year.

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