Hi Ate, On Fri, Oct 24, 2008 at 12:29 PM, Ate Douma <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Bertrand Delacretaz wrote: >> ...Does that patent issue mean that an ASF release of the WSRP4J would >> not be safe from a legal point of view?... >> >> Or is it just that users might be afraid of using it? > > The patent claim (as it stands right now, but: IANAL) seems to require for > any usage an *individual* license, e.g. there is no waver > (yet) for the ASF to allow release and distribution without putting this > burden onto the end users again. > In my view, this would not be in compliance with the ASF license and thus a > blocker for an ASF endorsed release...
Ok, so that looks like the core issue. And if the answer is that a release cannot happen within the ASF, I think the code must move elsewhere. That does not prevent it from coming back later if the issue is resolved. > ..Now, end users might or might now be afraid to use it. > Its (again in my view, and again: IANAL) questionable to say the least if > there would ever be a claim by this one patent holder, but legally > it is unclear if/how we can make sure (so nor can the end-users) without > having this go to court at least once or get this waver from the > acclaimed patent holder.... Ok. >> ...Assuming the legal issue can be worked out, would the portals PMC be >> prepared to "adopt" the WSRP4J code and maintain it in the future? > > Definitely, and we already did (for as much as possible)! > AFAIK The Portal PMC accepted long time ago to do so. This was before I > became member though and I haven't be able to find concrete references in > the mail archives for this.... > ...But the Portals PMC has taken responsibility for reporting WSRP4J status to > the board, the code-base is hosted underneath the portals root folder in svn > and the project website is also hosted under portals.apache.org.... Ok, so the project's status is kind of weird w.r.t the incubator, but I guess we can accept this temporarily based on the legal blocker. > ...Note: possibly part of the reason the WSRP4J status reports have not always > been delivered is that the separate incubator status reports > are not in schedule with the separate Portals status report, and of course > that there hasn't been much to report either. > But when it was, the *Portals* status reports also included the needed > information to the board AFAIK.... Ok, that clarifies the missing incubator reports. Again, looks like the project and code has been de facto accepted by the portals PMC, without the incubator being really aware of that. Could you maybe add a note to http://incubator.apache.org/projects/wsrp4j.html with a brief summary of the project's status, pointing to this thread? That would help in avoiding repeated inquiries. > ...David Taylor and myself got stuck again on this after a few months, because > we are unclear how to proceed and severe lack of time too. > It would be great if we can solicit some additional help with this as we > definitely would like to resolve this once and for all (no matter the > outcome). > > Both David and myself will be at the ApacheCon so maybe we can setup a > meeting then to discuss what can/needs to be done?... IMHO as far as the incubator is concerned, your explanations have clarified the project's status. I'm not qualified to discuss the legal issue, so I think a meeting only makes sense if ASF people with sufficient legal knowledge can participate - the best might be for you to call for volunteers on the legal and [EMAIL PROTECTED] lists, in a separate thread. thanks for the follow-ups, -Bertrand --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
