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<p class=MsoNormal>Here is the patent provision of Google's license for its VP8
codec:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-left:.5in'>Subject to the terms and conditions
of the above License, Google hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide,
non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this
section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import,
and otherwise transfer this implementation of VP8, where such license applies
only to those patent claims, both currently owned by Google and acquired in the
future, licensable by Google that are necessarily infringed by this
implementation of VP8. If You or your agent or exclusive licensee institute or
order or agree to the institution of patent litigation against any entity
(including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that this
implementation of VP8 or any code incorporated within this implementation of
VP8 constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, or inducement of
patent infringement, then any rights granted to You under this License for this
implementation of VP8 shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>[See <a href="http://www.webmproject.org/license/software/">http://www.webmproject.org/license/software/</a>.]
This license to the VP8 codec software otherwise resembles the BSD license. In
its first sentence it expressly authorizes "redistribution and use [of
this implementation] in source and binary forms, <b>with or without
modification</b>" (emphasis added).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>It is typical for a patent owner to tie its patent license
to its own implementation, but open source copyright licenses change all that.
How does this limited patent license apply to <b>modifications of this
implementation</b> that are expressly authorized by the remainder of this BSD-like
license?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The way I could interpret this Google license, the world is being
granted a license to patent claims "necessarily infringed by this
implementation of VP8," and then those patent claims are licensed for authorized
derivative works (which are no longer "this implementation"). Should
I infer that Google is licensing its necessary patent claims for much more than
"this implementation"? Or not? A patent and copyright license that
allows modifications is illusory and meaningless without also licensing those same
necessary patent claims for those authorized modifications. Or perhaps Google is
locking us in to its own specific implementation of VP8, thereby frustrating software
freedom and innovation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>How do you read this limited patent license in combination with
a generous BSD license? Is this a subtly phrased requirement to conform to the
VP8 specification or to use only Google's code, or just a drafting ambiguity in
an open source patent and copyright license? I wish to believe the latter.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>/Larry<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Lawrence Rosen<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Rosenlaw & Einschlag, a
technology law firm (<a href="http://www.rosenlaw.com">www.rosenlaw.com</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>3001 King Ranch Road, Ukiah,
CA 95482<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt'>Cell: 707-478-8932<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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