Patent-free software where it makes sense

[Michael Catanzaro]

On Wed, 2015-06-10 at 16:04 +0200, Alex Puchades wrote:
> I'm not simply proposing this software to be added to the installer, 
> but I'm proposing to discuss the reasons involved and if there's a 
> legal reason where simply pointing users to RPMFusion, for example, 
> would mean that Fedora is breaking patent laws.

Hi,

The short answer is that patent-encumbered software is only excluded
when there is high legal risk. If we were to enable freetype's subpixel
rendering, Red Hat would have to either pay $$$$$$$$ to Microsoft or
else prepare for the inevitable lawsuit. The MP3 situation is better,
since the last known patent expires in September; we'll include it in
F23 unless the lawyers give us some unexpected reason not to.

The long answer: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/PackageKit_Items_Not_Fo
und#Fedora_Position_on_Software_Patents

Michael