New thread -- was "RE: For Approval: Open Source Software Alliance License"
> John Cowan wrote: > > The AFL says that if you sue the author of an AFL-licensed piece of > > software under a software patent claim (related or not), > you lose all > > rights to that software. Arnoud Engelfreit responded: > Actually it goes much further. If you sue any author of any > AFL- licensed software for patent infringement, you lose all rights > to *all* AFL-licensed software, as well as all rights to all > other software with that same "poison pill" clause. Currently > that means you also lose rights to all OSL-licensed software. > > The GPL has its own implicit patent poison pill, which works > as you describe above. That's because enforcing a patent > right is imposing a "further restriction" in GPL terms. Actually, the new AFL version 2.0 (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/afl-2.0.php) doesn't contain that mutual defense clause because some key folks really hated it and refused to use any license that contained it. The AFL (and the Open Software License too) now reads as follows: 10) Termination for Patent Action. This License shall terminate automatically and You may no longer exercise any of the rights granted to You by this License as of the date You commence an action, including a cross-claim or counterclaim, for patent infringement (i) against Licensor with respect to a patent applicable to software or (ii) against any entity with respect to a patent applicable to the Original Work (but excluding combinations of the Original Work with other software or hardware). This is very similar to the language in the Mozilla, IBM, Apple, and many other licenses. As to whether that clause continues to be objectionable to RMS, he's free to speak out on that point but, AFAIK, he hasn't. I haven't explicitly sought out his opinion after the drawn-out and unpleasant experience I had with him last time, although I did send a copy of the license to FSF at the same time as I submitted the license to the OSI board for its approval. /Larry Rosen -- license-discuss archive is at http://crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3
