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Question about patent notice in copyright header of package exempi



Hi everyone,

Asheesh and myself intend to package the library exempi [1][2] for Debian.
The software is based on Adobe's XMP SDK 4.1.1 and released under the 3
clause BSD license.

While checking the source files, I noticed the following files:

samples/source/XMPScanner.cpp
samples/source/XMPScanner.hpp
source/XMPCore/XMPMeta-Serialize.cpp
source/XMPCore/XMPMeta.cpp
source/XMPCore/XMPMeta-GetSet.cpp
source/XMPCore/XMPMeta-Parse.cpp
source/XMPFiles/FormatSupport/XMPScanner.cpp
source/XMPFiles/FormatSupport/XMPScanner.hpp

Which contain a copyright header like this:

// ====================================================================
// Copyright 2002-2005 Adobe Systems Incorporated
// All Rights Reserved.
//
// NOTICE:  Adobe permits you to use, modify, and distribute this file
// in accordance with the terms
// of the Adobe license agreement accompanying it.
//
// Adobe patent application tracking #P435, entitled 'Unique markers to
// simplify embedding data of
// one format in a file with a different format', inventors: Sean
// Parent, Greg Gilley.
// =====================================================================


The interesting part is the second half of the header about the patent
application. I was wondering if this poses any problems (in the future)
for Debian to distribute this software. TBH I don't really understand
how to interpret this sentence.
IANAL, so I'd appreciate if you could give me some advice on this matter.

Thanks in advance,
Michael

P.S.: I'm not subscribed to d-l, so please CC me.

[1] http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=438166
[2] http://libopenraw.freedesktop.org/wiki/Exempi
-- 
Why is it that all of the instruments seeking intelligent life in the
universe are pointed away from Earth?

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