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Re: license issues?

2004-12-07 12:08:52
Hello!

On Tue, Dec 07, 2004 at 01:17:41PM +0100, Mipam wrote:
Domainkeys from Yahoo seems to have an easier license ....

Really?

  3.1. You agree not to assert against Yahoo!, or any other DomainKeys
  Developer, a patent infringement claim against any Implementation
  ("Implementation IP Claim").

So if yahoo violates my supersensodyne license in their DK+superfeature
implementation (actually in the superfeature part, because superfeature
uses ideas invented by me), I may sue them, but I can't use DK any more
then. OK, I don't condone software patents anyway, but perhaps if
someone makes a gadget including an email application including DK
support, and I sue them, because something in the *hardware* of the
gadget breaks a *hardware* patent of mine, it's similar. (The effect of
losing the DK license is stated in 3.7(a) or (b).)

Not really an open term. If I were a little company, guess where the
power positions stand between me and a big company like Yahoo.

  3.2. [...]
  You must include or preserve the
  following prominently displayed statement in the source code and object
  code of any such Implementations : "This code incorporates intellectual
  property owned by Yahoo! and licensed pursuant to the Yahoo! DomainKeys
  Patent License Agreement.".

This is similar to the advertising clause of the old style BSD license,
which is deemed incompatible to e.g. the GPL. So e.g. exim can't
implement DK.

Any chance the license will be changed or?
How do you folks look towards this issue?
Bye,

I personally would prefer keeping commonly used protocols patent free.

I.e. I'd like to use or develop mail transfer and user agents w/o
needing *any* patent license, royalty-free (but usually with strange
strings attached, see above) or not.

Kind regards,

Hannah.


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