Scripsit Toni Mueller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Oh - I see what you mean, but shipping this code poses many people > at risk of inadvertantly infringing on a patent if there is one in > the first place, because many people would just use the code in good > faith that the "Open" on the packkage label and the settings in which > they aquired the code, eg. as part of a Linux distro, suggests that > there is no problem. Checking the exact legal status of the code for > the individual situation is way beyond most potential users of the > code.
It is way beyond *anyone*. The trouble with patents is that you can infringe one without even knowing it - even if you have discovered the algorithm all by yourself, someone else may have discovered it earlier and patented it. It's not as for copyright, where you always know whether you're deriving the program from someone else's source. -- Henning Makholm "Jeg kunne ikke undgå at bemærke at han gik på hænder."
