From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Nov 7 17:17:32 2010 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 82F061065670 for ; Sun, 7 Nov 2010 17:17:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (smtp6.infracaninophile.co.uk [IPv6:2001:8b0:151:1:3fd3:cd67:fafa:3d78]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D465F8FC12 for ; Sun, 7 Nov 2010 17:17:31 +0000 (UTC) Received: from seedling.black-earth.co.uk (seedling.black-earth.co.uk [81.187.76.163]) (authenticated bits=0) by smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (8.14.4/8.14.4) with ESMTP id oA7HHRoD018898 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-CAMELLIA256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Sun, 7 Nov 2010 17:17:27 GMT (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) X-DKIM: Sendmail DKIM Filter v2.8.3 smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk oA7HHRoD018898 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=infracaninophile.co.uk; s=201001-infracaninophile; t=1289150247; bh=GrLNidUtcNhVn9TQHGcHQH2K8Rkny4QlUeAtHulO4Cg=; h=Message-ID:Date:From:MIME-Version:To:Subject:References: In-Reply-To:Content-Type:Cc:Content-Type:Date:From:In-Reply-To: Message-ID:Mime-Version:References:To; z=Message-ID:=20<4CD6DF1F.9040604@infracaninophile.co.uk>|Date:=20S un,=2007=20Nov=202010=2017:17:19=20+0000|From:=20Matthew=20Seaman= 20|Organization:=20Infracaninophi le|User-Agent:=20Mozilla/5.0=20(Macintosh=3B=20U=3B=20Intel=20Mac= 20OS=20X=2010.6=3B=20en-GB=3B=20rv:1.9.2.12)=20Gecko/20101027=20Th underbird/3.1.6|MIME-Version:=201.0|To:=20freebsd-questions@freebs d.org|Subject:=20Re:=20ZFS=20License=20and=20Future|References:=20 =09<4CD45A11.7060002@stillbilde.net>=09<20101105213433.GC8648@guil t.hydra>=09=09<4CD4DD2C.1090407@too1337.com>=20<20101106161031.GB12418 @guilt.hydra>|In-Reply-To:=20<20101106161031.GB12418@guilt.hydra>| X-Enigmail-Version:=201.1.1|OpenPGP:=20id=3D60AE908C|Content-Type: =20multipart/signed=3B=20micalg=3Dpgp-sha1=3B=0D=0A=20protocol=3D" application/pgp-signature"=3B=0D=0A=20boundary=3D"------------enig 7358A2007BC11A6D2C5848C8"; b=QgcYDKn1q9xvMva7fqdLGdGAabQJaXe3ppROOI2uz19SLoiEHn3k7NWJ7EX6aC+Z6 PoS3e3AQdu1JYaZzwHa/hskI3OeKQxVpKEK/eileG7pU2GqYNMj+BOK+f5/jnHPQJ8 XJLiLbtug1Spl7RTF5cAIuDRUcyxF88PAzIBORoc= Message-ID: <4CD6DF1F.9040604@infracaninophile.co.uk> Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2010 17:17:19 +0000 From: Matthew Seaman Organization: Infracaninophile User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-GB; rv:1.9.2.12) Gecko/20101027 Thunderbird/3.1.6 MIME-Version: 1.0 To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org References: <4CD45A11.7060002@stillbilde.net> <20101105213433.GC8648@guilt.hydra> <4CD4DD2C.1090407@too1337.com> <20101106161031.GB12418@guilt.hydra> In-Reply-To: <20101106161031.GB12418@guilt.hydra> X-Enigmail-Version: 1.1.1 OpenPGP: id=60AE908C Content-Type: multipart/signed; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature"; boundary="------------enig7358A2007BC11A6D2C5848C8" X-Virus-Scanned: clamav-milter 0.96.4 at lucid-nonsense.infracaninophile.co.uk X-Virus-Status: Clean X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.6 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_05,DKIM_SIGNED, DKIM_VALID,DKIM_VALID_AU,SPF_FAIL autolearn=no version=3.3.1 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.3.1 (2010-03-16) on lucid-nonsense.infracaninophile.co.uk Subject: Re: ZFS License and Future X-BeenThere: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: User questions List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 07 Nov 2010 17:17:32 -0000 This is an OpenPGP/MIME signed message (RFC 2440 and 3156) --------------enig7358A2007BC11A6D2C5848C8 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable On 06/11/2010 16:10, Chad Perrin wrote: > Will Oracle lawyers > find some patent related to the creation of that software the company > "owns" and use that to sue you if you fork the project to ensure the > survival of your own development projects? It seems somewhat likely, > somehow. Oracle couldn't sue for patent violations on software that they (or their predecessors) had released and that people were using as-is. That's legitimate use under license from the software's originators. Nor could they sue successfully over some completely novel implementation that avoided patented areas. An interesting question is: could they sue over use of patented feature 'foo' in a forked copy of the software, where the code implementing 'foo' was still identical to the original version and where any substantial novel work was on other, unpatented, areas? This flies in the face of the original intent of granting patents; that innovators should be able to claim the benefits of their own work in order that innovation be encouraged. I doubt that any free software project would have sufficient funds to pursue such a case through the courts. I take comfort from the example of OpenBSD and CARP vs. Cisco and HSRP. Open source projects have been here before, and survived by doing what open source projects do best: writing code. Cheers, Matthew --=20 Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 7 Priory Courtyard Flat 3 PGP: http://www.infracaninophile.co.uk/pgpkey Ramsgate JID: matthew@infracaninophile.co.uk Kent, CT11 9PW --------------enig7358A2007BC11A6D2C5848C8 Content-Type: application/pgp-signature; name="signature.asc" Content-Description: OpenPGP digital signature Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="signature.asc" -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG/MacGPG2 v2.0.14 (Darwin) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org/ iEYEARECAAYFAkzW3ycACgkQ8Mjk52CukIzP3gCfeqq8B/y+mkSJaWlgUzU9L+y3 ur4An0hh/PwurF1JegAHDkrLt0g7rQ/t =N1if -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------enig7358A2007BC11A6D2C5848C8--