The goal of the eCots¹ project is to setup an open portal for collecting, sharing and improving accurate information on software COTS products and producers. The core information will be freely available on the Internet [1], with secure replication mechanisms available under subscription, allowing enterprises to synchronize their private intranet information with the portal data. The eCots project is based on the in-depth formalization and standardization of the COTS related data, as well as innovative business and legal approaches related to this kind of open information sharing and content collaborative production, inspired by the open source initiative.