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Re: Patent issues



On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 05:22:29PM +0100, Roland Stigge wrote:
> I wonder if it is still possible for sarge to be released before 7 July
> 2004 (international expiration of US4558302). If not, we could start to
> move GIF/LZW patent encumbered packages from non-free and contrib to
> main.

They will most likely not be moved until the patent expires. Packages
that contain LZW code should not be in contrib; they should be in
non-free because they cannot be practiced under a DFSG-free license.

> I wonder what Debian considers the threshold of importance for patents
> that can be ignored and patents that we care about.

Active enforcement. Of course, if the patents are enforced, but are
allowed to be practiced under a DFSG-free license, then that's
different.

-- 
Brian M. Carlson <sandals@crustytoothpaste.ath.cx> 0x560553e7

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