Kevin Mark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Hi, > I was just reading an interview[0] of someone from the 'Freetype' project > and he said: > ... > Also, I still don't understand why Debian and Ubuntu keep distributing > patent-infringing code in FreeType, while they keep MP3 and DVD playback > out of their normal installs. I'm not even sure it's DFSG compliant... > ...
Almost any interesting program, free software or otherwise, infringes some unknown, non-zero number of registered software idea patents. If that were the only criterion for a software work to fail the DFSG, Debian would be pretty much empty. My understanding is that Debian declares a work non-free if a holder of a software idea patent is *actively enforcing* a patent that covers the work, such that Debian cannot distrigute the work as free software. Fraunhofer has a track record of actively enforcing software idea patents against the algorithms in MP3 encoding software. Thus, such works cannot be redistributed as DFSG-free software by Debian. Ditto the DVD-CCA actively enforcing against DeCSS. I don't know whether that is true for any of the software idea patents that cover FreeType. -- \ "Somebody told me how frightening it was how much topsoil we | `\ are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire | _o__) and nobody got scared." -- Jack Handey | Ben Finney -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
