Marcelo Thompson Cited by Brazil's Apex Court

Congratulations to Marcelo Thompson whose article ("The Democracy of FLOSS: Software Procurement under the Democratic Principle" (2008) 5 U. Ottawa L & Tech J 79) was cited with approval by the Brazilian Supreme Court ("Supremo Tribunal Federal"), the apex court in constitutional matters.  The case concerned the abstract judicial review of primary legislation from the state of Rio Grande do Sul establishing a system of preference for open source software (over "proprietary" software) in public procurement.  The Court upheld the constitutionality of the law which had been found unconstitutional in an interlocutory decision of the Court.  The decision forecloses the possibility of software companies imposing ex-ante designed end-user license agreements on the government.  The Court's judgment (dated 9 April 2015) in Portuguese can be downloaded here.