[License-review] Approval: BSD + Patent License

[Josh Berkus]

On 01/14/2016 02:22 AM, Carlo Piana wrote:
> Would this license, in your analysis, cover the following use case:
> patent holder A takes code X from B, mixes it with code Y, distributes
> X+Y; A has patents only reading on X; B also uses and distributes X+Y.
> Would B (as well as any recipient of X+Y) receive a patent grant from A
> for this? This in my reading would not be the case of Apache (but I
> might be mistaken, I have not studied it in depth). A is not contributor
> of X, neither does it technically hold copyright in X.

It seems to me that we discussed this with the Oracle permissive license
last year?  I understand the desire for this kind of license ... I have
a keen desire for one myself ... but it's not as simple as including a
patent grant.  I'd really like to see a real patent attorney work on
this question.

-- 
Josh Berkus
PostgreSQL Project