Open source is a strong support for building the new quality productive forces,and the effective governance of open source software is one of the construction focus and key initiative of the National Intellectual Property Rights Power Strategy.In software copyright infringement disputes,the co-creative mode of open source software has promoted the"open source defense"as a new type of defense.Broadly speaking,"open source defense"includes defenses raised by potential infringers based on the open source nature of software in question.Narrowly defined,"open source defense"refers to a non-infringement defense based on open source licenses.For"open source defense",it should be noted that open source software has the possibility of constituting a joint work,and it can leave room for parties to determine its copyright ownership by themselves based on the open source contributor agreement.The key to finding the"open source defense"between open source software and derivative software lies in whether complying with the open source license,while the essence of the"open source defense"between derivative software developed from open source software and further derivative software is the dispute over the copyrightability of"illegal derivative works".It shall adhere to the basic principle of"violation-infringement"dichotomy,recognize the copyrightability of"illegal"derivative software,improve the terms of open source licenses,and establish the organizations for software copyright management.