Changeset - a394bce20f67
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Tony Sebro (keynote2k) - 10 years ago 2014-03-21 16:53:53
tony@sfconservancy.org
Made final edits to Implied Patent License section
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gpl-lgpl.tex
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@@ -1881,26 +1881,24 @@ Further supporting this result is the Federal Circuit's pronouncement that
 
the recipient of a patented article has, not only an implied license to
 
make, use, and sell the article, but also an implied patent license to
 
repair the article to enable it to function properly, Bottom Line Mgmt.,
 
Inc. v. Pan Man, Inc., 228 F.3d 1352 (Fed. Cir. 2000). Additionally, the
 
Federal Circuit extended that rule to include any future recipients of the
 
patented article, not just the direct recipient from the distributor.
 
This theory comports well with the idea of Free Software, whereby software
 
is distributed amongst many entities within the community for the purpose
 
of constant evolution and improvement. In this way, the law of implied
 
patent license used by the GPLv2 ensures that the community mutually
 
benefits from the licensing of patents to any single community member.
 

	
 

	
 

	
 
Note that simply because GPLv2'd software has an implied patent license does
 
not mean that any patents held by a distributor of GPLv2'd code become
 
worthless. To the contrary, the patents are still valid and enforceable
 
against either:
 

	
 
\begin{enumerate}
 
 \renewcommand{\theenumi}{\alph{enumi}}
 
 \renewcommand{\labelenumi}{\textup{(\theenumi)}}
 

	
 
\item any software other than that licensed under the GPLv2 by the patent
 
  holder, and
 

	
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