[OpenID] OpenID license

[Chris Messina]

Hopefully this'll be the last on this topic. ;)

On Wed, Jul 21, 2010 at 6:30 PM, Nathan <nathan at webr3.org> wrote:

>
>>  2: why aren't the patents from contributors with Necessary Claims
>>> disclosed?
>>>
>>>
>> Because it would put contributors at a disadvantage if they revealed that
>> they did or didn't have patents. Essentially by claiming to non-assert the
>> relevant patents, they're saying that if they DO have patents, they won't
>> enforce them against other contributors. Of course, if one contributor
>>
>
> what about against implementers? (sorry may just be an omission, looking to
> clarify)


Because an implementor could be a patent troll and implementors aren't
required to non-assert.

Simple as that.

Keep in mind we're talking about intellectual property. When you implement a
spec, you're implementing someone else's invention. When it's a "standard",
it was probably created by a consortia of companies that all have patents.
What's important is that the creators of the spec don't create an encumbered
spec and implementors are free to implement the technology (presuming that
they don't implement the spec and then sue the creators of the spec).

Essentially the non-asserts are about protecting the creators of the
technology, and less about protecting the implementors. It's up to each
implementor to assess the legal situation with their own counsel (if it's
important to them) before writing a line of code. The contributors obviously
can't do that for you, they can only assess their own legal situation and
act according to their interests.

can I (legally) release an OpenID spec implementation under any license I
> want (even cc-zero)
>

Not today. Depends on the copyright license that applies. The default is all
rights reserved, so until we specify otherwise, that's the doctrine that
applies.


>
> can you guys condense all of the outcome of this in to one little snippet
> and license and stick it on the specs to save everybody else going through
> this same procedure, and/or having to read several documents and all the
> agreements themselves to figure out the true picture. Pref using an existing
> compatible license of course, but whatever will do, given the nature of the
> software industry I'm sure some lawyer(s) somewhere will hook up on it and
> figure out all the details + license compatibility issues, given the
> penetration of OpenID.


Ideally, yes, that should be the outcome here.

Chris


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Chris Messina
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