[clug] FOSS patent infringements

[Paul Wayper]

Mike Carden wrote:
> I want to believe him, but to me it sounds a lot like another
> company's Covenant Not To Sue and I don't trust that at all. I don't
> understand why it's necessary to say "Do it and I promise not to sue
> you" instead of "You're free to do as you wish."
I think the reason is that they still want to be able to threaten
Microsoft and other people with the stick even though they don't use it
on little open source developers.  An inclusive statement like "you're
free to do as you wish" is probably easier to get around than an
exclusive "we won't sue if you don't do as we don't wish" statement. 
But I'm not a lawyer, and I don't play one on TV either.  More's the pity.

Have fun,

Paul