Re: Bug#309257: libpano12: patent problems
On Mon, 16 May 2005, Josselin Mouette wrote:
> Le lundi 16 mai 2005 à 12:12 +0200, Robert Jordens a écrit :
> > For a user or for Debian we can't knowingly risk lawsuits even if we
> > think they can be won.
>
> So what? Are we going to remove any piece of software for which a
> jackass claims he has some prior art?
Eh? Surely someone claiming prior art would lend credence to our
ability to distribute the thing, not the other way around.
I think these things need to really be weighed on a case by case
basis, after seeing which patents are being actively enforced, and
balancing our exposure with the benifit of distributing the software.
That's really a call for the ftpmasters to make with as much
information as possible. [Hopefully the new Software Freedom Law
Center will help us in needing to be as timid as we have been forced
to be in the past.]
> Come on, please resurrect the non-us archive. There are many pieces
> of software we could distribute in it without risking patent
> lawsuits.
I think here you mean to have a non-patent archive. There's no reason
why such a thing couldn't be set up by private users who want to bear
the responsibility of software that Debian feels are too risky in the
current litigious climate.
Don Armstrong
--
Q: What Can a Thoughtful Man Hope for Mankind on Earth, Given the
Experience of the Past Million Years?
A: Nothing.
-- Bokonon _The Fourteenth Book of Bokonon_ (Vonnegut _Cats Cradle_)
http://www.donarmstrong.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu
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