Second Life used to be a software patent-free zone in that the TOS compelled every user to grant a license under any patent rights, effectively making patents inside of Second Life void.
--- 3.2 paragraph 3 in the old TOS: You also understand and agree that by submitting your Content to any area of the Service, you automatically grant (or you warrant that the owner of such Content has expressly granted) to Linden Lab and to all other users of the Service a non-exclusive, worldwide, fully paid-up, transferable, irrevocable, royalty-free and perpetual License, under any and all patent rights you may have or obtain with respect to your Content, to use your Content for all purposes within the Service. You further agree that you will not make any claims against Linden Lab or against other users of the Service based on any allegations that any activities by either of the foregoing within the Service infringe your (or anyone else's) patent rights. ----- The new TOS does not include a section on compulsory patent licensing. I hope that this omission was unintended and will be rectified, as software patents are a particular danger to open source developers. _______________________________________________ Policies and (un)subscribe information available here: http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/OpenSource-Dev Please read the policies before posting to keep unmoderated posting privileges
