Include MPlayer in beta?
Michael Knepher
limbo at bluethingy.com
Wed Sep 17 17:41:38 UTC 2003
On Wed, 2003-09-17 at 10:20, Bryan W. Headley wrote:
> William Hooper wrote:
>
> > b) MPlayer is saying it is GPL. If he decides to try to use patents to
> > prevent distribution it is no longer GPL (see mp3 discussions).
>
> Are you saying that patenting something in a product retroactively
> revokes the GPL license for all prior releases?
If the patent covers code/functionality in the prior releases, and the
patent holder does not grant a license of the patent under
GPL-compatible terms, then I would think that the prior releases would
be in a difficult position, GPL-wise. It could probably be argued in a
court of law, however, that the license holder's prior distribution of
the patented code/functionality with no encumbrances constituted a de
facto license.
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