http://www.fsf.org/news/dont-depend-on-mono

[Jesse Keating]

On Jul 7, 2009, at 3:15, Dodji Seketeli <dodji at redhat.com> wrote:

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> Le 07/07/2009 12:02, Rui Miguel Silva Seabra a écrit :
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>> What you're explicitly told s that you won't be sued if you do so  
>> without the right.
>>
>> And you have no right!
>
> Just to try to understand your point.
>
> 1/You don't have the rights to do A.
> 2/ But you do A, you won't be sued.
>
> Doesn't that make 1/ irrelevant in practice ?
>

No, it just means that the promise to not sue can be lifted at any  
time and leave every user vulnerable. If the code were licensed in  
such a way that the patent indemnification came with the license then  
when the license changes to remove the patent protection only users of  
the new versions are at risk. All users of the old versions are not at  
risk due to the license on those old versions. Licenses cannot be  
changed retroactively but promises outside the license can.

--
Jes