Re: How can we submit code patches that implement our (pending) patents?

On Wed, Jul 11, 2018 at 01:03:44AM +0000, Tsunakawa, Takayuki wrote:
> From: Tom Lane [mailto:tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us]
> > The core team has considered this matter, and has concluded that it's
> > time to establish a firm project policy that we will not accept any code
> > that is known to be patent-encumbered. The long-term legal risks and
> > complications involved in doing that seem insurmountable, given the
> > community's amorphous legal nature and the existing Postgres license
> > wording (neither of which are open for negotiation here). Furthermore,
> > Postgres has always been very friendly to creation of closed-source
> > derivatives, but it's hard to see how inclusion of patented code would
> > not cause serious problems for those. The potential benefits of
> > accepting patented code just don't seem to justify trying to navigate
> > these hazards.
>
> That decision is very unfortunate as a corporate employee on one hand,
> but the firm cleanness looks a bit bright to me as one developer.
>
> As a practical matter, when and where are you planning to post the
> project policy? How would you check and prevent patented code?

PG may need a contributor agreement. All I can find on that is:

https://www.postgresql.org/message-id/flat/54337476.3040605%402ndquadrant.com#9b1968ddc0fadfe225001adc1a821925

Nico
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