Re: [boost] Re: Boost License Issues

From: David Abrahams (dave_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-11-30 11:25:34

Terje Slettebø <tslettebo_at_[hidden]> writes:

>>From: "David Abrahams" <dave_at_[hidden]>
>
>> My meeting with a technology lawyer at Harvard last week led me to
>> believe that boost authors are already opened up to having to defend
>> against a patent suit. We are responsible for our own actions. No
>> matter what we write down, if we violate copyright or patent
>> restrictions, we can be held liable.
>
> Yes, but wasn't the point of the license to possibly protect the
> authors against lawsuits from _users_ of the library, if it later
> turns out to contain patented code? 

It is my understanding that warranting something that turns out to be
false offers the author less protection than warranting nothing at
all.

> However, is it necessary to do anything about that?  In other words,
> did CompuServe risk lawsuits from the users of the GIF format, when
> it turned out to be patented, and CompuServe was unaware of it?  

IMHO, yes. But AFAICT in this litigious society, everything we do in
the public sphere entails a legal risk. A lawsuit can be brought by
anyone, claiming almost anything, for almost any reason.  A lawsuit
with no merit whatsoever will be likely to be thrown out early, but
not neccessarily.

-- 
                       David Abrahams
   dave_at_[hidden] * http://www.boost-consulting.com
Boost support, enhancements, training, and commercial distribution