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

On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 07:59:20AM -0700, Andres Freund wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On 2018-07-23 16:32:55 +0200, David Fetter wrote:
> > On Mon, Jul 23, 2018 at 06:31:14AM -0700, Andres Freund wrote:
> > > On July 23, 2018 6:25:42 AM PDT, Bruce Momjian <bruce(at)momjian(dot)us> wrote:
> > > >Notice this makes no mention of what happens to the patents if the
> > > >company goes bankrupt. My guess is that in such a situation the
> > > >company
> > > >would have no control over who buys the patents or how they are used.
> > >
> > > It explicitly says irrevocable and successors. Why seems squarely
> > > aimed at your concern. Bankruptcy wouldn't just invalidate that.
> >
> > Until this has been upheld in court, it's just a vague idea.
>
> To my knowledge this has long been settled. Which makes a lot of sense,
> because this is relevant *far* beyond just open source. FWIW, in the US
> it's explicit law, see https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/11/365
> subclause (n). Anyway, should we decide that this would be a good idea
> as a policy matter, we'd *OBVIOUSLY* have to check in with lawyers to
> see whether our understanding is correct. But that doesn't mean we
> should just assume it's impossible without any sort of actual
> understanding.

Yet again, you are assuming contrary to reality that you can simply
read and understand how legal code will operate without court cases to
back it. In the particular instance you're citing, that's what happens
*after* the contract is upheld as legal, which it could well not be.
There are lots of ways it might not be, even if you don't count bad
will and venue shopping, tactics known to be used ubiquitously by
NPEs.

We know things about the GPL because courts have upheld provisions in
it, not because somebody's idea of the "obvious meaning" of that
document held sway.

> You're just muddying the waters.

Nope. I'm just making sure we understand that when it comes to patent
thickets, it's a LOT easier to get in than out.

Best,
David.
--
David Fetter <david(at)fetter(dot)org> http://fetter.org/
Phone: +1 415 235 3778

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