So, is Astrisk being changed to an OSI-compliant license without the "anti-patent" clause? Uriel
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Jan Rychter Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2003 2:27 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Help with GPL license of Asterisk >>>>> "Mark" == Mark Spencer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: [...] Mark> No problem, it's easy to get confused :) I would, however, take Mark> issue with the GPL being "evil". It's not my *ideal* license, Mark> but it certainly is good enough. Just for the reference, while we're at it. GPL does have an issue, which can cause problems to some people or companies. It is often overlooked, because the "open source" issues seem much more controversial. Having worked with GPL software quite a bit, also in the commercial world, and having gotten some legal advice, I believe that the "anti-patent" clauses in the GPL and LGPL are quite possibly the biggest problem preventing the use of GPL'd software by commercial entities, much bigger than the "pass on the source and the rights" requirement. An excerpt from the GPL: 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. As I understand it (and as my legal counsel advises me) this effectively means that if I distribute GPL/LGPL code, I have to make sure that its distribution and re-distribution is not restricted by patents (or other restrictions). If the code in question contains parts which some patents lay claim to, restricting distribution, then I must not distribute the code at all. Furthermore, by distributing the code I breach the GPL and expose myself to legal threat of a lawsuit from the FSF. It is needless to mention that it is impossible to me to verify that no patents (worldwide!) lay claim to the code I'm distributing and impose restrictions upon its distribution. Sooner or later I'm going to find out that I do not comply with the GPL, because I distribute GPLd code even though there are patent restrictions that apply to it. An example of a particularly clear case of this problem is the XviD code (http://www.xvid.org/), which is GPL-licensed. It seems to me that the authors (copyright holders, to be precise) may distribute the software under any license they choose, but nobody else is allowed to re-distribute it, because they would be violating section 7 of the GPL, as the MPEG-4 compression is (in some countries) covered by patents requiring royalties to be paid. This is an issue which is very often overlooked in the hot GPL debates. However, in the commercial world, it is possibly the most important one. Conclusion (IMHO of course): if you have the choice, use a license that is OSI-compliant but does not have the "anti-patent" clause. Or has it phrased differently. --J. _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users _______________________________________________ Asterisk-Users mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
