[openib-general] PathScale license

[Tom Tucker]

Does the iPod manual that documents how to operate the volume give the
user rights to the iPod interface patent? Unfortunately -- no, thus all
the goofy knock-offs.

EVERY hardware vendor has patents related to its interface and
implementation. EVERY hardware vendor that submits open source
documents, demonstrates, and utilizes that hardware interface. To
presume that the vendor is summarily dismissing its rights to its
related patents is -- well -- wrong.

Let's suppose that I'm wrong. If there *really* is a legal risk, then
*every* hardware vendor shares that risk and a clause should be added to
the generic GPL template. Otherwise, it does nothing but confuse and
expand the legal encumbrance users assume when they download -- and that
is very very bad. 

Linux absolutely needs hardware vendors and therefore must be sensitive
to protecting their legal rights, but the Linux community must also be
diligent in keeping the open source legal landscape as simple and
uniform as possible -- or the value of open source dies one clause at a
time.

Thu, 2005-12-29 at 18:56 -0800, Johann George wrote:
> > The plain reading of pathscale's license grants an unencumbered license
> > *to the code*. It merely refrains from waving any related hardware rights. 
> 
> That is exactly PathScale's intentions.
> 
> > The code is not being restricted to work only with the patented hardware,
> > correct?
> 
> Absolutely.  PathScale is not trying to restrict use of the code in any way.
> 
> Johann
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