Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2001 10:31:27 +0200 From: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> To: Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> Cc: David Johnson <djohnson@acuson.com>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Windriver, Slackware and FreeBSD Message-ID: <20010418103127.F27000@lpt.ens.fr> In-Reply-To: <007201c0c7e1$65489b00$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>; from tedm@toybox.placo.com on Wed, Apr 18, 2001 at 01:27:24AM -0700 References: <20010418091652.A27000@lpt.ens.fr> <007201c0c7e1$65489b00$1401a8c0@tedm.placo.com>
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Ted Mittelstaedt said on Apr 18, 2001 at 01:27:24: > >Consider the following scenario: Apple has a patent on some very > >low-level algorithm, but doesn't tell people. (They do claim a patent > >on theming, so why not on some OS-related thing?) Their people (no > >doubt well-meaning) contribute it to FreeBSD. > > The second that an Apple employee formally contributed patented source > to FreeBSD, it would tremendously weaken the Apple patent to the point > where it would impede it's enforceability. As I understand it (IANAL), non-enforcement of patents doesn't weaken them (unlike trademarks, where you do have to enforce them actively). Unisys waited for years, until GIFs became entrenched standards on the web, before trying to enforce their LZW patent. Many big corporations did pay up. - Rahul To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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