5 ms·
at least mirrors of the code exist, so at least projects that do not have to concern themselves with patents can still benefit from it.
by the8472 10y ago
at least mirrors of the code exist, so at least projects that do not have to concern themselves with patents can still benefit from it.
- mac01021 10y agoFor my own edification (I'm not an expert on IP law), what kind of project is free to disregard patents? Is it just a matter of whether or not the project is a commercial product?
- wtallis 10y agoIt's a matter of not operating in a jurisdiction that hands out software patents. Europe is generally much more sensible in this respect.
- ape4 10y agoCan a program legally do: if (country == usa) { workSlowPatentFreeWay() else { workScreamingFastWay() }
- the8472 10y agothings like ffmpeg can be configured to exclude various kinds of code based on licences. I assume similar build-time flags could be set to exclude patent-encumbered code. The source would include the code, but binaries could be shipped with and without it.
- dom0 10y agoWhat do I (a German) care about some u-boat patents some American may or may not or whatever have on some technique I use in my software?
- JoshTriplett 10y agoThe usual approach: uncompiled source code implementing a patented algorithm doesn't directly violate the patent, for the same reason a paper describing a patented algorithm doesn't. So, you can ship the necessary source code, and a compile-time option to build with or without it. Freetype used to do this with bytecode hinting. Various media libraries do this as well.
- zardo 10y agoThe patent is for calculating erasure codes, if you want to do Galois field arithmetic for any other reason the patent does not apply.