From owner-freebsd-hackers Fri Jan 30 17:45:17 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id RAA18694 for hackers-outgoing; Fri, 30 Jan 1998 17:45:17 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from mail.scsn.net (scsn.net [206.25.246.12]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id RAA18686 for ; Fri, 30 Jan 1998 17:45:11 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from dmaddox@scsn.net) Received: from rhiannon.scsn.net ([208.133.153.25]) by mail.scsn.net (Post.Office MTA v3.1.2 release (PO205-101c) ID# 0-41950U6000L1100S0) with ESMTP id AAA210; Fri, 30 Jan 1998 20:43:19 -0500 Received: (from root@localhost) by rhiannon.scsn.net (8.8.8/8.8.7) id UAA05475; Fri, 30 Jan 1998 20:44:29 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from root) Message-ID: <19980130204429.65423@scsn.net> Date: Fri, 30 Jan 1998 20:44:29 -0500 From: dmaddox@scsn.net (Donald J. Maddox) To: Mikael Karpberg Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The BSD License Reply-To: dmaddox@scsn.net Mail-Followup-To: Mikael Karpberg , hackers@FreeBSD.ORG References: <19980130170718.22132@scsn.net> <199801310130.CAA09766@ocean.campus.luth.se> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Mailer: Mutt 0.89i In-Reply-To: <199801310130.CAA09766@ocean.campus.luth.se>; from Mikael Karpberg on Sat, Jan 31, 1998 at 02:30:55AM +0100 Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG X-To-Unsubscribe: mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org "unsubscribe hackers" On Sat, Jan 31, 1998 at 02:30:55AM +0100, Mikael Karpberg wrote: > According to Donald J. Maddox: > > It seems that the RFC and ANSI X3.241-74 provide all the info necessary to > > implement the LZS algorithm; however, I talked today with Cheryl Poland of > > Hi/fn (aka STAC) about this, and she seems convinced that implementing > > this in just about any way I can imagine would be a violation of one or > > more of Hi/fn's patents :-( > > Even if so, it might be possible to get explicit permission from the patent > holder to distribute a binary, or even source code, FreeBSD. "Licence" it, > if you will (for no, or a very small fee). That's entierly up to the patent > holder, and the reason that he/she/it owns the patent, I guess. > Asking shouldn't hurt. :-) Well, that's what I was doing when I was talking to Ms. Poland :-) She is a representative of the patent-holder, you see. It should be noted, however, that Ms. Poland is in _sales_, so the very idea of seeing anything based on LZS being distributed for free is very likely abhorrent to her :-) She is not a lawyer, so she may be completely wrong in her belief that anything at all based on LZS is covered by STAC's patents, but I'm not a lawyer, either, and can't afford to find out that she _was_ right in court.