The Software Freedom Law Show

Episode 0x0C: Patently False

28 April 2009

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Summary

Karen and Bradley discuss the intersections of software patents with FLOSS licenses. They give a general overview of how patents generally interact with FLOSS, and then discuss the patent provisions of specific FLOSS licenses.

This show was released on Tuesday 28 April 2009; its running time is 00:46:50.

Show Notes

Segment 0 (00:35)

• Bradley suggests that more knowledgeable listeners might want to skip the first segment. (02:22)
• RMS rightly dislikes the term “intellectual property”. He's written about it often. (02:58)
• Karen noted that the USPTO uses term property to describe patents, which Bradley points out isn't actually accurate. (03:10)
• RMS didn't invent, although he did popularize the phrase , “perpetual copyright on the installment plan”. (05:08)
• The USPTO website confirms that the term limits on patents are 20 years. (05:25)
• Bradley mentioned that RSA Data Security, Inc. liberated the RSA a patent a few weeks before it expired. (05:40)
• Bradley and Karen explained what patent trolls are. (08:50)
• The patent section of SFLC's legal guide explains the interactions of FLOSS with the patent system, including covering issues such as what a patent is and what willful infringement is. (10:36)
• Bradley mentioned that Jeremy Allison gave an award reading FATtest Patent Troll to Sam Ramji at the Linux Collaboration Summit, although the only URL we could find documenting this is a identica statement by Bradley himself. (14:25)

Segment 1 (15:08)

• Bradley noted that GPL is a copyright license. This is discussed in detail in the Copyright section of SFLC's legal guide. (16:03)
• GPLv2§6 and GPLv2§7 are the two sections that might interact with patent issues, particularly §7. (20:30)
• Our colleague, Dan Ravicher, has often spoken about the implied patent license GPLv2 grants, including in seminars run by the FSF itself. (21:20)
• Bradley attempted to concisely explain the patent provisions of GPLv3 (mostly in §11). (27:20)
• Bradley mentioned the discussions in the GPLv3 Drafting committees, such as Committee B and Committee C (29:53).
• Ultimately, Bradley took 8 minutes exactly, not counting Karen's 28 second interruption. That's pretty concise, he thinks.
• GPLv3§12 is nearly identical to GPLv2§7. (37:18)

Segment 2 (38:20)

• Bradley explained the patent provisions of the Apache 2.0 license.
• Bradley and Karen discussed SFLC's work against the Blackboard patent. There were news items on SFLC's site when the reexam was filed and when the USPTO ordered the reexam. (42:05)

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Tags: bkuhn, karen, sflc, gplv3, patents

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