Re: non-free firmware in kernel modules, aggregation and unclear copyright notice.

Adrian Bunk
2005-04-09T14:38:24Z

On Fri, Apr 08, 2005 at 08:31:22PM -0400, Raul Miller wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 08, 2005 at 07:34:00PM +0200, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> > If Debian was at least consistent.
> >
> > Why has Debian a much more liberal interpretation of MP3 patent issues
> > than RedHat?
>
> It's impossible to treat patents consistently.
>
> The U.S. patent office, at least, has granted patents on natural laws,
> on stuff that's already patented, on stuff with clear prior art, on
> trivial math operations and so on. Patents are being granted so quickly
> there's no way of even knowing what's patented.
>
> Or were you hoping that Debian would follow Red Hat's lead?

Even RedHat with a stronger financial background than Debian considered
the MP3 patents being serious enough to remove MP3 support.

Yes, Debian can choose to put a higher risk on their distributors and
mirrors - there's nothing wrong with this.

Note that this is a respose to Josselin's statement:

<-- snip -->

When there are several possible interpretations, you have to pick up the
more conservative one, as it's not up to us to make the interpretation,
but to a court.

<-- snip -->

It's simply silly to be extremely picky on copyright issues while being
extremely liberal on patent issues - the risk of a Debian distributor
being sued for patent violations (no matter how the lawsuit might end)
is definitely present.

> As for this particular patent, I'm not really sure what's being patented.
>...

Which one of the 23 patents they list do you call "this particular
patent"?

> Raul

cu
Adrian

--

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"Only a promise," Lao Er said.
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