Date: Tue, 12 Jun 2001 11:36:30 +0200 (CEST) From: Mikulas Patocka <mikulas@artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz> To: Matt Dillon <dillon@earth.backplane.com> Cc: Jonathan Lemon <jlemon@flugsvamp.com>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Patented algorithm in FreeBSD Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.3.96.1010612113132.10932A-100000@artax.karlin.mff.cuni.cz> In-Reply-To: <200106112302.f5BN2Mx34109@earth.backplane.com>
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> The key thing with patents is that they are meaningless until the > patent holder decides to protect them in court by challenging the > people who are supposedly in violation of the patent. If a patent > holder decides to go after you, it can be costly even if you win. They can't go after me because I don't live in America. However they can go after users ... even if the patent is bogus. What does exactly patent forbid? distribution of sources, distribution of binaries or use of binaries? - if I make compile time switch to turn patented feature off (for paranoid US users who don't have money for lawsuit), would it be possible to distribute the sources in US? Mikulas To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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