Mingnan Guo wrote:
Currently, HnxGC is not under the Boost Software License, but it is possible that in near or later future, we will release a version of HnxGC under Boost Software License. Prior to doing that, I want to be sure that whether or not the Boost License is conflicting with patented/patent-pending technologies. Could any body give me some successful examples of patents under Boost Software License, or explain it?
The BSL does not say anything about patents. However, it does say that it grants permission for anyone to use the library free of charge, for any purpose. If you know about patents covering the library, and cannot guarantee that a license to these patents is given to every user of the library free of charge (for example, by being the holder of said patents and giving this guarantee in a legally binding way), then you are in no position to grant this license. In fact, simply by releasing the software under the license, in the full knowledge that it uses the patented technology (and you'll convince no one that you didn't know about your own patents), it could be argued that are giving a general license for the patents to everyone. Or even if that is not the case, it could be argued that you acted in bad faith when releasing the library, and any subsequent attempt to demand license fees will fail. So, if you release the software under the BSL (or pretty much any other open-source license, even the simple BSD license), you might as well not patent the technique at all. My opinion. IANAL, though, and my legal knowledge is limited to the laws of Austria, where software patents are technically impossible, anyway. Sebastian Redl