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About code vetting

/* One of the criticisms from the SCO Group about Linux is that there has been very little vetting of the code--somebody has not been around to review it to make sure that it didn't violate somebody's patents here, somebody's copyrights there. Does OSDL think that criticism has merit?
*/

Well, SCO is facing a counterclaim that it (1) violated four IBM patents, and (2) violated IBM copyrights in Linux. It's not in a good position to talk.

But, honestly, patent infringement is impossible to guard against in writing code. There are millions of active patents in the US (literally), and more internationally. Patent applications, in the US, don't include "software patent" in the title, so finding just the software patents would require enormous effort. Then reading the legal description would drive anybody insane.

It's well-known that companies like IBM and Microsoft simply build up a large number of patents, and don't worry about infringement. If anybody sues, they offer to license one of their patents in return for a license to the disputed patent. This usually works, but MS's current fight against the Eolas patent is different since the patent holder there *is* looking for money.

As to copyright infringement: Don't look at the code. Linus can definitely say that he wrote many of the few files SCO has claimed include infringing code. As such he can show that SCO's copyrights are not infringed, since he ahs never read SCO code.

All of his contributors are required to sign documents stating they haven't had access to relevant code, or their contributions aren't allowed. There really isn't much more to do. It's what SCO does, btw.

Posted by: mlybbert   Posted on: 01/23/04 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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