Date: Mon, 15 Dec 2008 02:16:34 -0800 From: perryh@pluto.rain.com To: rock_on_the_web@comcen.com.au Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Why FreeBSD not popular on hardware vendors Message-ID: <49462e82.0JabFKZe33ZkdtYT%perryh@pluto.rain.com> In-Reply-To: <1229325063.8820.5.camel@laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au> References: <20081212002813.GD32300@kokopelli.hydra> <20081211170011.777236f8@gom.home> <20081212015814.GB32982@kokopelli.hydra> <20081212120437.B3687@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> <20081212181258.GE36348@kokopelli.hydra> <ghuau9$juk$1@ger.gmane.org> <20081212203202.H4803@wojtek.tensor.gdynia.pl> <20081212150228.520ad7f8@scorpio> <20081212212552.GF37185@kokopelli.hydra> <1229230200.18610.87.camel@laptop2.herveybayaustralia.com.au> <20081215065327.GM5527@kokopelli.hydra> <1229325063.8820.5.camel@laptop1.herveybayaustralia.com.au>
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> > Unfortunately, anything covered by a patent, as I hinted > > above, is verboten. Er, doesn't it depend on what is patented? If the h/w itself is patented, but its software-visible interface is not, there should be no problem writing a driver for that h/w. OTOH if the algorithms used in the driver are patented it would be an infringement to reproduce them. > But if I remember my legal and ethics course correctly if you > can arrive at a conclusion through your own research then your > reasonably clear. Not under patent, at least in the US, last I heard. (IANAL) A patent is infringed by any reproduction of the technology involved, even entirely independently. Someone described the justification as avoiding a situation in which it would pay to be ignorant of what others had done. > For example, the drivers are closed source but the hardware itself > is an entirely separate issue. So if you can create your own > drivers by your own research into how the hardware is setup then > the drivers created could licensed under your own terms- open > source or otherwise. At least in the US, that works for copyright but not for patent. > The drivers and hardware may operate together but are separate > items of creativity, therefore do not operate under the same > patent. Again, it depends on exactly what is patented (strictly speaking, what the patent's "claims" are.)
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