Also if someone with legal background can answer, I would like to put another question (maybe very obvious to some of you, but I send it anyway.. :-)) : - what is the status of "reverse engineering" in USA/EU nowadays? More specifically, in the context of the project coreboot, can we use information obtained reversing proprietary bioses/drivers (or even hardware.. :o)) safely or we risk unleashing hordes of IP lawyers on us?..
Florentin PS: I know that this is shamelessly practiced in the (big) corporate world, but we (as "underdogs"..) can we dare?.. Quoting Joseph Smith <[email protected]>: > > > > On Fri, 19 Jun 2009 10:24:51 +0200, Florentin Demetrescu <[email protected]> > wrote: > > Beware.. > > Question : if we (open source users/developpers) are using some > > information > > obtained from patents (not the complete patent but just some information > > as is > > the case here..), are we exposing to lawsuits of "patent infringement" if > > the > > patent holder is not open source friendly? > > Just my 2 euro-cents.. > > I don't thinks so, patent claims are public information. No one had to sign > a NDA. It is not software and does not have copyrighted code it just > explains how a harware process works. As long as we are NOT claiming to > have invented the hardware process, that there is a patent on, it is ok. > > Anyone with a legal back ground want to touch this? > > -- > Thanks, > Joseph Smith > Set-Top-Linux > www.settoplinux.org > > > -- > coreboot mailing list: [email protected] > http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot > -- coreboot mailing list: [email protected] http://www.coreboot.org/mailman/listinfo/coreboot
