[copyleft-next] copyleft-next patent commons?

Richard Fontana fontana at sharpeleven.org
Fri Feb 22 22:09:05 UTC 2013


On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 04:51:18PM -0500, Ben Cotton wrote:
> On Fri, Feb 22, 2013 at 4:13 PM, Pamela Chestek <pchestek at gmail.com> wrote:
> >  So how about instead of "initiate" is it "allege or threaten"?
> 
> That strikes me as being somewhat vague. Perhaps there's already
> precedent for this kind of wording, but it seems like this would add
> the need for more litigation. Initiating the suit seems like a pretty
> clear-cut action, whereas allege or threaten is open to
> interpretation. (see also: "it's not a threat, it's a promise").

It's fair to say that some such threats are worded in a very friendly
manner. 

> I agree with the principle, but I'm not sure how it could be worded. I
> suppose "allege or threaten" may be enough of a scare tactic to
> prevent suits than a provision actually intended to be enforced?

I seem to remember some FLOSS license that used language like this but
can't think of what it was. It might have been an early GPLv3 draft.

 - RF





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