On Thursday, May 26, 2005 at 16:29 +0100, Éibhear wrote:
Hi,
Following the lead, one would think, of IBM and Novell, Nokia has announced that Linux kernel development may use all its patents (http://press.nokia.com/PR/200505/995845_5.html and http://www.nokia.com/iprstatements).
[...]
I'm trying to make sense of this, because if they're serious in their statements that Free Software development needs to be protected from patents, then they could just support the EP's text of the directive from Sept. 2003 and all efforts to return the directive to that state.
Anyone with any insights?
I wonder if this is related to the fact that Nokia have just announced a Gnu/Linux based handheld device: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/05/25/nokia_wifi_tablet/
The announcement on patents appears to be saying that *current* uses are licensed but if you add new features that infringe on further patents you might not be off the hook:
"The Patent Statement applies to Nokia's patents infringed by current official releases of the Linux Kernel and all future official releases of the Linux Kernel to the extent that Nokia has not declared new functionality embodied in such releases to be outside the scope of the Patent Statement."
"Nokia intends to work with the open source community in identifying in advance those functionalities that Nokia would declare to be outside the Patent Statement."