Questions tagged [patents]
For questions about the usages and roles of patents within open projects. This can concern protection of projects/patents, and their implications in licensing, projects, and usages.
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What is a "patent-granting" license?
I am beginning to learn about open source software licenses. I am especially interested in how open source licenses interact with patents. I've seen the term "patent-granting" used several ...
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Stack Exchange's CC-BY-SA and Patents
All contributions to the Stack Exchange Websites are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC-BY-SA), either version 2.5, 3.0, or 4.0 depending on the post date. This ...
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What's the meaning (qualifications) of "machine" in GPL's "machine-readable source code"?
I'm trying to understand what is (not) a "machine" in GPL's "machine-readable source code".
GPL requires you to share (a) the preferred-form-of-the-work-for-making-changes-in-it, ...
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AGPL-3 and patents
I have developed a process which I am in the process of patenting, and would like to release all or some of the implementation under an open source license (likely AGPL-3). I am trying to understand ...
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Protect public project from potential patents
We have a simple 3D-printable object, which can be used as a medical aid. We would like to publish this object free to use to the public.
We would like to keep this object and further revisions and ...
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Do I need to patent before open-sourcing hardware?
As I understand it, software open-source licenses are backed up by copyright law, but copyright law does not (in the US) apply to hardware. Does this mean that, before issuing any sort of open-source ...
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Open source software that limits competition with a patent [duplicate]
I want to release my software under an open-source license. I got a patent on the part of it.
Is there an open-source license that will allow people to use my software but will not grant a patent ...
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What does Section 2.3 a in the MPL 2.0 mean?
Section 2.3 a) of the MPL 2.0 States:
no patent license is granted by a
Contributor:
(a) for any code that a Contributor has removed from Covered Software
What does code a contributor has "...
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Using a Library Under MIT License with Patented Algorithms
If a library is licensed under the MIT license but has patented algorithms in its source, can I just pull out the source files I need that don't contain any of the aforementioned material and ...
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Is there a website where one can register an idea, as an open source one?
Problem statement:
I see innumerous patents being filled with vague and generalized descriptions, with most of them never coming to fruition. Humanity as a community suffers because of these patent ...
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Apache-2.0 and MPL-2.0: To what extent does "license termination when instituting litigation" applied?
Background
Apache-2.0 and MPL-2.0 contain a clause that if you sue the project/user for infringement of your patent, all of the licenses you have been granted are terminated (though the exact rights ...
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Choosing License of GitHub Repository
I really don't know much about the licenses. I am working on a project which I might upload on a website. So I have a few questions.
Can someone ever steal my code and commercially use it if I put my ...
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Given the existence of the Apache license, and the reasons for it over MIT/BSD license, is it still safe to use MIT/BSD?
Apache license exists as a permissive open-source license as opposed to MIT/BSD license with the perceived benefit that it also protects authors from patent violations. Although I think I read ...
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Why is CC0 criticized for its patent weakness whereas other licenses aren't?
CC0 is often criticized for its patent clause
No trademark or patent rights held by Affirmer are waived, abandoned, surrendered, licensed or otherwise affected by this document.
At the same time, ...
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Using FFmpeg only for decoding in closed source commercial application
There are already lots of questions about FFmpeg licensing but I could not find one for my specific case.
I'm making an application which is able to play video files using FFmpeg (through a LPGL ...
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Is the QWERTY keyboard layout proprietary?
Is the keyboard layout QWERTY proprietary? Can one use it in their own keyboard apps without buying a license? If no, are there any non-proprietary keyboard layouts?
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Can I protect my open source library from USA software patent?
I am writing a library that may violate software patents. I just don't want to lose my time trying to see if I violate any software patents: I suppose that any skilled mathematician could be able to ...
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If the SIFT algorithm for vision is out of patent, can it be included in open source?
In OpenCV, you can use the SIFT algorithm in doing feature detection. According to Wikipedia, however, the SIFT algorithm's patent has recently run out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-...
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Am I doing something illegal by installing VLC or MPV?
These packages are excluded from Fedora repositories for legal reasons. The only way to install them is to use third-party repositories like RPM Fusion or building from source.
Fedora docs states ...
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Bumptech glide licensing
I'm using bumptech/glide for loading images in my app.
After reading the License i saw that most of the library was licensed under the Apache License except for the AnimatedGifEncoder.
License for ...
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Using GLPv3 for open-source library modules that can be extended and linked by closed-source libraries and binaries
I'm developing a pretty big open-source project which will require multiple technology stacks. My hope is that this project will be primarily community-based, which means the community should be able ...
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Can I open-source a design based on a patent?
I am relatively active in the 3D-printing community and have created a design that requires a part that has been patented by a company from the United States in 1997. The part is very rare outside of ...
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If authors of open source software can be held liable for (accidentally) infringing (vaguely worded) software patents, why add one's name to it?
If person A writes software and says "I wrote it and this is my name", she can potentially be sued by a patent troll who says "I invented the program statement and the variable".
If person A writes ...
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What can a patent troll win by suing an open-source foundation e.g. GTK foundation?
Do open-source foundations have oodles and piles of cash lying around for patent trolls to scoop up?
Are open-source softwares licensed under the GPL not immune to patent trolls since there is no ...
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Can a patent license require all algorithm implementations to be GPL-licensed?
Let's say I develop an algorithm, and I get a patent for that algorithm. Could I create a patent license that requires anyone implementing the algorithm to license their code under the GNU GPLv3?
As ...
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Supporting the HEIF format in a open source library
I'm a co-maintainer of a open source (GPLv2 licensed) image metadata library and recently a contributor made a pull request adding support for the HEIF format via libheif.
Since the HEIF format is a ...
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Can someone else patent an invention that I have introduced in my open source project?
Is open source protected in any way if I haven't filed for a patent myself? Maybe a specific license?
Any examples of open source projects that introduced 'inventions' that could be patented (but they ...
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GPL for CAD design using patented hardware
I would like to create a functional peice of mechanical hardware. To my knowledge, GPL-3.0 is compatible with non-software works. I would like to license the design of my under GPL-3.0.
However, I ...
user15191
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Is open source license compatible with a patent-encumbered standard?
Let's say heic is a patented image format. There is an open source implementation of heic called "libheif". GIMP use it to edit heic images, however, development team of Eye of Gnome(EOG) refuse to ...
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Why is the Apache license 2.0 patent license clause useful/important?
I've read the Apache 2.0 license (A2L), in particular its clause regarding patent licensing. I don't quite understand what's the use of it.
If Alice lets Bob use a piece of software under the terms ...
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What are the implications of Apple's Swift related patents?
Patent US9952841B2 - Programming system and language for application development -
To make the question more concrete (based on this post in the Swift forum) -
Is it safe for a new distinct ...
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Patent rights: BSD-3-Clause-Clear vs BSD-3-Clause
While the BSD-3-Clause is well known and thoroughly discussed here and elsewhere, I have been unable to find much information on precisely how the additional patent stipulation in the BSD-3-Clause-...
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Interpretation of the Patent clause of Apache 2.0
While it is clear what a "Contributor" to an Apache 2.0 licensed software has to do when its work abide to the license I am struggling with what an user of an Apache 2.0 library has to do in the ...
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Open Source Hardware software and patent license
I'm working on a hardware medical device which I'd like to open source without giving out my patent rights to potential competitors.
I'd like to open source the firmware/software part. What's ...
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Do I lose the right to use my patent after contributing to a project with Apache License 2.0?
Apache License 2.0:
Grant of Patent License. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual,
worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, ...
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Legality of open hardware vs. patents
While much discussion is there around software patents (because sometimes it's just maybe a creative idea), how does maker community position themselves to existing patents?
In other words, is high ...
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License for open sourcing software with pending patents
I have a pending patent on my Confidence Coin invention. I shared the code publicly on Github (after I started my application), but I have not added a license yet.
This software is a blockchain ...
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Why doesn't the MIT license have "patent use" permission?
From https://choosealicense.com/licenses/ and https://choosealicense.com/appendix/ I notice that the MIT license doesn't have "patent use" permisson like other popular open source licenses.
What ...
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What exactly does "If You […] litigation is filed" from Apache2 license mean?
I am not an native English speaker so the paragraph below is really hard for me to understand.
From https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0:
If You institute patent litigation against any ...
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Open source license that protects my ability to patent in the future?
I just published a project on GitHub that I've been working on for a few years to see if I could maybe get some help polishing it up and augmenting it from here. I'm trying to choose a license and I ...
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How to check if an(y) algorithm is patented/copyrighted or not [closed]
I want to know if an/any algorithm is patented or not. If it is patented then where can I find its details. Please explain with an example for both cases.
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What does "express grant of patent rights from contributors to users" mean?
I'm trying to choose which open source license I should use in my app, and in the description for one of the licenses, it says the license provides an "express grant of patent rights from contributors ...
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Open Source licenses in the Dominican Republic
I live in the Dominican Republic where there Open Source isn't contemplated in the Constitution. I want to make Open Source hardware.
How should I go about this? Should I get a patent and license it ...
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Can I patent open source project?
Suppose I download an open source project from GitHub and modify the code further.
Can I patent this code and restrict others to reuse my "modified" code?
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Is the Facebook BSD+Patents licence (aka "The React Licence") compatible with the GPL?
Is the Facebook BSD+Patents licence compatible with the GPL (GPLv3), in the sense that one could:
use code licensed under BSD+Patents, as part of a project, the rest of which you write yourself (own ...
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can I use this GitHub library that is using a patented data compression?
I was looking the repository https://github.com/ladislav-zezula/StormLib and it's using the MIT license, so far so good.
However, looking at the following file https://github.com/ladislav-zezula/...
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Non commercial project which might be using a patent
If a non commercial or open source project uses a technique which some can argue is covered by a particular patent, what would be implications be. Do you have to pay royalties. If project does not ...
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Is there a license that both provides patent protection and does not require attribution?
Looking at https://choosealicense.com/appendix/, we can see that there are a number of licenses that provide patent troll protection, and there are also a few licenses that that do not require ...
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What are the ZFS patents and when do they expire?
One of the "big deals" in FreeBSD these days is ZFS. The issue is that ZFS is under a non-compatible license and has patents preventing clean-room re-implementation.
My question is for how much ...
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How does ASL 2.0 licensed software interact with patents or patent pending
If software artifact is patented and then licensed under Apache Software License 2.0 what are the limitation due to the patent?
Can the patent be used for non derived works. Independent (better) ...