[Opensim-dev] Violating the GPL by looking (Re: Voice Module)

[Kyle Hamilton]

On Wed, Mar 19, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Dzonatas <dzonatas at dzonux.net> wrote:
> If a company has a goal to create patents and they use the resources of
>  source code to achieve that goal, then they would not want to use code
>  that is copyrighted in such a way that restricts patents being created
>  from it.

Patent law is a tricky thing.  Patents can ONLY be granted to the
original inventor (and not even a company, it has to be a named
individual or individuals).  You cannot apply for a patent on
something that someone else came up with.

>  That is why I consider the BSD license insecure because it does not
>  prevent someone else being able to patent your code. I know I'm not
>  alone in that thought. Take for example the SCO vs. IBM /Linux/etc,
>  there was nothing to prevent SCO from being able to patent the OS as it
>  existed under the BSD. When unix-like software moved to the GPL (hurd,
>  linux) any similarities could be claimed for patent infringement, and
>  that they did! SCO's argument is not too far fetched, and it presents an
>  example of a major security issue.

No, patent law prevents someone else from being able to patent your code base.

http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/index.html has a
bunch of information on the topic, and I wholeheartedly suggest that
anyone who wants to participate in this discussion read it.

-Kyle H