Re: Patent clauses in licenses

[Michael Poole <mdpoole@troilus.org>]

MJ Ray writes:

> However, do we agree that a free copyright licence may not terminate
> when someone asserts a copyright claim?

Suppose Alice publishes Asoft under the GPL.  Bob files a lawsuit
claiming that Asoft infringes his copyright on his proprietary program
Bsoft.  Does that breach section 4 of the GPL, terminating his license
to modify, copy, and so forth, the remainder of Asoft?

I think it does, although I am open to arguments as to why Bob would
retain a license to Asoft.

Some have suggsted that Bob gets a new license every time he gets a
copy of Asoft from someone else.  I disagree with that because that
interpretation opens a significant loophole in the GPL's protection
and because getting a new license would not remedy previous instances
of copyright infringement.

Michael Poole