Re: Patents and revocation clauses
That is the correct legal conclusion...
so there ;)
NatePuri
Certified Law Student
& Debian GNU/Linux Monk
McGeorge School of Law
publisher@ompages.com
http://ompages.com
On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, Jules Bean wrote:
> On Thu, 18 Mar 1999, Bruce Sass wrote:
>
> > On 16 Mar 1999, Henning Makholm wrote:
> > > Clause 7 of the GPL simply states that the right to make copies
> > > of the covered program does not apply if there's a patent which
> > > applies to the code and whose owner contests the free distribution
> > > of the code.
> > >
> > > Say that IBM released their code under GPL in the above scenario.
> > > Company B might still go to court, and they might succesfully argue
> > > that their patent is valid and applies to the program. However, in the
> > > same moment the judge decides this, >poof< the GPL effectively
> > > vanishes from all copies of the program (or at least all copies in the
> > > same jurisdiction).
> >
> > So GPLed becomes non-free, because no license == non-free?
>
> Yup.
>
> >
> > > IBM wouldn't be stuck with having licenced out
> > > infringing code, so company B wouldn't probably get more out of their
> > > suit than if there had been a revocation clause which IBM had
> > > voluntarily invoked.
> >
> > :( It sounds like including a patented algorithm in your code could
> > be tantamount to including a revocation clause in the license you
> > distribute with the code.
>
> True, I'm afraid.
>
> That's the bugger about allow algorithms to be patented.
>
> What's worse, is that you might not even know the algorithm is patented..
>
> Jules
>
> /----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------\
> | Jelibean aka | jules@jellybean.co.uk | 6 Evelyn Rd |
> | Jules aka | jules@debian.org | Richmond, Surrey |
> | Julian Bean | jmlb2@hermes.cam.ac.uk | TW9 2TF *UK* |
> +----------------+-------------------------------+---------------------+
> | War doesn't demonstrate who's right... just who's left. |
> | When privacy is outlawed... only the outlaws have privacy. |
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>
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