Copyleft/guide Changeset - 076f7b7cd8e3

Changeset - 076f7b7cd8e3

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Bradley Kuhn (bkuhn) - 9 years ago 2015-02-02 16:11:14
bkuhn@ebb.org

Preservation of implied patent license is unique.

This footnote, co-drafted by me and Richard Fontana, explains the
apparent uniqueness GPLv3's preservation clause for GPLv2's original
implied patent license.

Fontana pointed out this distinction with commercial patent licensing.
I noticed as a further point that even some copyleft licenses, let alone
non-copyleft Free Software licenses, fail to include any clauses
preserving implicit patent license grants. Such is certainly of concern
for those licenses that contain explicit patent licensing provisions.

Fontana notes that during GPLv3 process, he was concerned that an
explicit patent license in GPLv3 might provide a basis for some to later
argue an implied patent license was no longer present. GPLv3§11's final
paragraph assures its safety.

1 file changed with 13 insertions and 1 deletions:

gpl-lgpl.tex

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gpl-lgpl.tex

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 that are purportedly legally enforceable.
 Nevertheless, unlike traditional commercial patent licensing
 agreements\footnote{FIXME: note such a clause is rare, if not unique.},
 agreements\footnote{Typically, well-drafted commercial patent license
   agreements explicitly exclude any possibility of
   implied licenses.  Thus, GPLv3's final paragraph may be unique among both commercial
   agreements and/or other Free Software licenses (both copyleft and
   non-copyleft).  Careful study of the patent licensing implications of GPL
   should not ignore this observation.  In particular, contrast carefully the
   goals of commercial patent licensing agreements and the policy goals of a
   copyleft license.  Namely, patent license granters typically draft patent license
   to explicitly license only a narrow set of patents.  However, FSF sought to assure
   patent licenses for all Free Software users, redistributors, and developers.
   While  GPLv3\S11 undoubtedly contains some compromises regarding explicit
   patent licensing, FSF did not compromise on bringing forward GPLv2's
   existing implicit patent license.},
 rather than confining the patent license grant to some narrow set of such
 express situations, GPLv3 preserves the
 \hyperref[gpl-implied-patent-grant]{existing implied patent licensing structure}

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