Re: [vorlon@netexpress.net: Re: Bug#181969: [mdadams@ece.uvic.ca: Re: JasPer licensing wrt Debian Linux]]
On Tue, Dec 16, 2003 at 08:22:35PM -0600, Steve Langasek wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 16, 2003 at 11:37:28AM -0800, Michael Adams wrote:
> > troublesome issue is this: The JasPer Contributors might be held
> > liable for the patent-infringing use of the JasPer software by
> > *others*. This is a very serious concern. This is, in fact, the
> I can't agree that this is a "critical legal issue", but as IANAL,
> that's not really my call to make. I *can* say, though, that we have a
> large amount of software in our archive written by people who have quite
> a different assessment of this risk.
I understand that the usual approach to reconciling this need with the
DFSG is to have the license disclaim liability for patent infringement
problems and/or include a non-binding clause advising users that it is
their responsibility to check for patent licensing problems. That way
the license clearly puts responsibility for these things onto the user
without actually adding any actual restrictions to the license.
IANAL and might be talking rubbish, though.
--
"You grabbed my hand and we fell into it, like a daydream - or a fever."
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