Walter Landry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brian T. Sniffen) wrote: >> Henning Makholm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >> >> > Scripsit [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Brian T. Sniffen) >> > >> >> And, as it happens, companies do grant free patent licenses: it's >> >> common practice when working on a standard which must be approved by a >> >> standards body with a RF policy: typically, the patent is licensed for >> >> any use which implements that standard. >> > >> > A patent license that applies only to implementations of a specific >> > standard is not free (as in free speech). >> >> Can you explain this to me? I see free software, and some external >> limits on how you may use certain modifications of it. > > You can't modify the code in the webserver to improve the parsing of > your favorite editor.
But you couldn't add those features to your favorite editor *anyway*, because they're patented. Unlike copyright, chain of custody and derivation is irrelevant for patents. -Brian
