Russell Hires wrote:
> There has been an issue with RTLinux that was raised by RMS, recently,
> concerning RT's attempt to patent something as part of the source code
> dealing with the Linux kernel. Here's a link:
> http://alllinuxdevices.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-09-14-002-03-PL-LG
> To be fair, there are other stories listed at linuxtoday.com that seek to
> "correct the misunderstandings" related to this intitial objection...
There is no issue with the patent itself, only the patent license.
The patent license was trying to force commercial users to track and
report usage. Since the software is also GPL licensed, this is a
violation of the GPL. The GPL forbids any requirement of the user
to report usage -- regardless of any additional licensing issues
(like use of a patent). It wasn't so much of a "violation" as it
was an issue with FSMLabs misrepresenting that it was GPL licensed
when it really was a modified GPL license. Remember, they wrote the
stuff and hold the copyright, so it is theirs to license as they
wish.
Again, there is *NO*ISSUE* with the patent itself. FSMLabs and the
FSF have been negotiating this for awhile. The license was changed
earlier this yet to better appease the FSF, although it still took
issue with two remaining items. FSMLabs understands the importance
of the GPL license, so they wanted a FSF thumbs up. Unfortunately,
negotiations "broke down" and FSF started contacting the press and
distributing copies of an even earlier license. That brought
FSMLabs back to the table and we now have the issue resolved.
FSMLabs is a perfect example of a commercial company releasing its
IP under a dual-licensed GPL/commercial product. Several other
GPL-focused companies, such as Cygnus, founded in 1989 (now owned by
RedHat) and considered the first "GPL success story", also has a
very similar model. FSMLabs has taken this a step further by
patenting its very innovative, pre-emptive real-time kernel
approach. It has been licensed to several other real-time vendors,
including the two RT extension products for Windows NT. A
royalty-free patent license is granted in the GPL version.
I hope we see more and more of these types of companies. There is
so much FUD out there on the GPL, that most companies believe they
cannot be profitable with it. Not only can they be profitable, but
they protect their IP much better and actually give them and their
users greater freedom which only leads to more marketshare.
Especially versus more restrictive and/or less protected licenses
like the
-- TheBS
-- Bryan "TheBS" Smith mailto:b.j.smith@ieee.org chat:thebs413 Engineer AbsoluteValue Systems, Inc. http://www.linux-wlan.org President SmithConcepts, Inc. http://www.SmithConcepts.com
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