Raul Miller wrote: > On Mon, May 03, 2004 at 08:41:30PM +0200, Arnoud Engelfriet wrote: > > A dominant market player could use the GPL in an abusive way. > > For example, consider Microsoft licensing its standard libraries > > under GPL. > > After thinking about a number of scenarios, I don't think that this > would work as a form of abuse.
Maybe not, it was just a top-of-my-head suggestion. The abuse would be forcing others to license their work under certain terms. By itself you can request that, but if you're a dominant player the rules change. MS is currently being investigated in Europe and Japan for allegedly forcing its OEM licensees to give them royalty-free patent licenses for anything Windows infringes. Nothing wrong with asking a RF license, but forcing that by using your market power _is_ wrong. Arnoud -- Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/
