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cc-licenses - Re: CC & other forms of IP -- puzzled

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Subject: Development of Creative Commons licenses

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  • From: "Branko Collin" <collin AT xs4all.nl>
  • To: Discussion on the Creative Commons license drafts <cc-licenses AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: CC & other forms of IP -- puzzled
  • Date: Tue, 28 Dec 2004 16:21:07 +0100

On 27 Dec 2004, at 19:23, Johannes Ernst wrote:

> Well, take an OSI-approved license that explicitly talks about it:
> http://opensource.org/licenses/sunpublic.php, section 2.1: ".. grants
> ... under Patent Claims ...".

That example seems to explicitely only grant a patent license for the
original code, not for code resulting from any modification:

"no patent license is granted: 1) for code that You delete from the
Original Code; 2) separate from the Original Code; or 3) for
infringements caused by: i) the modification of the Original Code or
ii) the combination of the Original Code with other software or
devices."

For code resulting from modification, only patents by the author of
the modification are licensed, and only for the modified portions of
the code. (Paragraph 2.2.)

Patents on software can be used as a sort of copyright replacement.
An unscrupulous contributor to a FOSS project could contribute code
whilst knowing, but hiding, that he also has a patent on the method
behind the code. Once the project has become popular, he starts
demaning license fees. Patent provisions in FOSS licenses are, AFAIK,
to close this gap. I do not see the broad, viral patent licenses that
you see.

--
branko collin
collin AT xs4all.nl




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