IBM and Patents

Mon Feb 2 14:40:49 UTC 2004

On Sun, 1 Feb 2004, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting Ken Brown (kenbrown at erols.com):
>> > Does anybody know whey I can get a list of IBM patents that have been
> > GPL'ed?
>> Ken -- 
>> Please re-read GPLv2 clause 0: It applies to creative works under
> copyright law, not patent law.

 While the GPLv2 is not itself a patent license, it does require that an
RF patent license be applied to any patents embeded within it in order to
have the copyright works properly licensed.
 http://www.fsf.org/licenses/gpl.html which among other things includes:
 Preamble
 ...
 Finally, any free program is threatened constantly by software 
 patents. We wish to avoid the danger that redistributors of a free
 program will individually obtain patent licenses, in effect making the
 program proprietary. To prevent this, we have made it clear that any
 patent must be licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at 
 all.
 ...
 TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION
 ...
 7. If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent
 infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues),
 conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or
 otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not
 excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot
 distribute so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this
 License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you
 may not distribute the Program at all. For example, if a patent
 license would not permit royalty-free redistribution of the Program by
 all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through you, then
 the only way you could satisfy both it and this License would be to
 refrain entirely from distribution of the Program.
 ...
 8. If the distribution and/or use of the Program is restricted in
 certain countries either by patents or by copyrighted interfaces, the
 original copyright holder who places the Program under this License
 may add an explicit geographical distribution limitation excluding
 those countries, so that distribution is permitted only in or among
 countries not thus excluded. In such case, this License incorporates
 the limitation as if written in the body of this License.
 ...
---
 Russell McOrmond, Internet Consultant: <http://www.flora.ca/> 
 Governance software that controls ICT, automates government policy, or
 electronically counts votes, shouldn't be bought any more than 
 politicians should be bought. -- http://www.flora.ca/russell/
--
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