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SubjectRe: Article: IBM wants to "clean up the license" of Linux
Date
Dave Cinege writes:
> "Albert D. Cahalan" wrote:
>
>> IBM needs a way to tightly bind a patent license to the source code.
>> Without that, they are afraid to contribute. IBM might even want to
>> specifically tie patents to Linux. (not also gcc, HURD, emacs...)
>
> What IBM needs to do is play ball according to the rules that have
> been layed down, or look for another market to tap.
>
>> It is unfortunate that the FSF doesn't hold any patents. I don't think
>> that they like patents at all, but they need some so that they can trade.
>> (if anything, patent issues could give GPL code an advantage over BSD code)
>
> Stallman once told me, "patents are a governement mandated monopoly".
> I've thought alot about that. He's right.

He may be right, but that doesn't mean he should ignore reality.
Reality: Software patents are legal. You can get patent access if you
have patents to trade. Without patents to trade, free software will
be limited. Note why bzip2 is not as good as the original.

> Who is to say what is and is not patentable? (Do you cede that
> government has a stake in all ideas???) If you want to keep TOTAL
> rights to something, DON'T make it public at all.

Yeah, well tough. You don't make the laws.

> If IBM is forced to give up a patent's protection in order to
> contribute to Linux, I say good.

They _can't_ because they would get sued by their shareholders.
AFAIK that includes the CEO getting personally sued, without the
normal protection of a corperation. (not a lawyer, etc.)

> If they choose to pass on Linux instead, I also say good.
> We're enough of an influence to be noticed, and we stuck to
> our pricipals that helped get us here. No company created Linux.
> No company can stop it, unless people get too greedy/stupid.

I'm sure it feels really good to say that.

Now, would you rather trade patents or be prohibited from writing
good free software because you haven't any patents to trade?

We could really use a collection. It would be easy to get hardware
specs out of reluctant vendors. :-) "All documentation or else!"

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