Re: [Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>] Re: Debian & BSD concerns
On 13 Mar 1999, John Hasler wrote:
> Bruce Sass writes:
> > Could the license of patent software be changed, or would that require a
> > new patent?
>
> I'm not sure I understand your question. Neither a copyright nor a patent
> necessarily has only one license.
as in commercial use, educational use, personal use, etc. ...
Sorry, I noticed that I wasn't being very clear,
then promptly forgot to do anything about it.
How's this... What would happen if I was to have a free program depend
on patent code distributed with a free license, then the license of the
patent code became non-free at some later date. Would all versions of
the program then be non-free, or just those that were released after the
patented code's license changed?
I'm trying to get at the difference between depending on someone elses
library routines (where a license change requires a new release?), and
depending on patent code (where the license may change without a new
release?).
which leads me to...
> > Could a license be so free as to abrogate the rights conferred upon the
> > patent holder by the patent?
>
> Presumably, but I'm not sure how to handle the mechanics.
- Bruce
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