Noel J. Bergman dijo: >> > And if they do things that impinge on their own patents, the GPL >> > says that you cannot use their code, even though it is under the GPL. > >> This means MS cannot do fork by using own patents and redistribute >> without breaking the GPL license, this is the poison pill, right? ;-) > > The poison pill is the patent. Section 7 of the GPL says, in part: > > 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. > If you release code with patent encumbrances you could release the entire > thing under GPL, and no other developer could use it. They would still be > forced to either license the patent, or fork and compete without the > functionality.
Not agree because even the 1st releaser cannot distribute the code. If you read the next sentence of the part you posted: <snip> 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. </snip> There is a very nice word: "indirectly". Suppose: A - a patent holder. B - Buy from A. The Software include patents from A. C - Receives the software from B. But with the nice word "indirectly" also C recieves the software from A. Then A cannot distribute it. It can have his own patented for his own internal use. It is a kind of lock-in. BTW, I not think people on the GPL cannot saw this. Will be good to contact them to ask about this. It is too obvious that I cannot believe they don't include this posibility as you suggested. The poison pill is GPL, not a patent. Best Regards, Antonio Gallardo --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
