news thread on Twitter courageous stand of one of our readers, with the alias NUD, has done a fantastic commentary in which not only expressed his opinion on this initiative, but reminded us all, or we discovered, as in my case, the fact that Red Hat already made a similar announcement a while .
official site of Red Hat has a section a bit hidden in the footer on which the company says “ Our position about software patents “. This text makes an argument against software patents, a necessary evil for the industry however stop innovation.
in the same return as make it clear that Twitter has now announced, Red Hat agrees to use its software patents, and has a few-for self-defense , and not to attack other companies as it did in its time the unpopular SCO.
course, Red Hat added in the “Our Promise” that effectively will use its patents in the event of having to defend , and made with the same force with which it attacked. So, look at several cases in which the defense and use of patents could be activated to make it clear that obviously are not going to look like fools. A very interesting statement, which included in full in case you do not want to visit the original link:
Our position about software patents
In Red Hat, we have always taken the view that software patents generally impede innovation in software development and are inconsistent with the concept of open source / free software. Red Hat representatives have addressed this issue before the National Academies of Science, the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Red Hat has also signed a petition to the European Union, encouraging them not to adopt a policy that allows the use of software patents. We will continue working to promote this position and we are pleased to join in this effort to our colleagues in the community of open source / free software, as well as those proprietary software vendors that have publicly declared their opposition to software patents.
the same time, we are forced to live in today’s world, a place where software patents are allowed. A relatively small number of large companies have amassed a wealth of software patents. We believe it can be misused to such huge software patent portfolios because of the questionable nature of many of them and also the high cost of litigation related to patents.
defense against such misuse lies in the development of a corresponding portfolio of software patents for defensive purposes. Many software companies, both open source and proprietary software, engaged in this strategy. In the interest of our company and in an attempt to protect and promote the open source community, Red Hat has decided to adopt this same position. We do this reluctantly, because this leads to inconsistencies in our stance against software patents. However, we have taken this decision motivated by prudence.
Meanwhile, Red Hat will continue to maintain its position as a leader in open source business and participant delivered to the collaboration of open source, to what extend the promise set forth below.
Our promise regarding our software patents
Definitions:
License approved
means any of the following licenses: GNU General Public License v2.0 and v3.0, GNU Lesser General Public License v2.1 and v3.0, v1.0 IBM Public License, Common Public License v1.0; Q Public License v1.0, Open Software License v3.0, and any license granted by Open Source Red Hat. Red Hat could expand this list in its sole discretion, by publication on this page.
Open source / free software means any software licensed under an approved license.
Rights means any patent rights related to the creation, sale, offering for sale, import or transfer the software in either source or object code.
means Red Hat Red Hat, Inc.
Our Promise:
Subject to the requirements or limitations established by this, to the extent that either party exercises a Patent Right with respect to the Open source / free software contained in any claim of any patent owned by Red Hat , Red Hat agrees to refrain from enforcing the infringed patent to that party because of that year (“Our Promise”). Our pledge does not extend to any software that is not Open source / free software and the parties to exercise a right of patent for software that is not Open source / free software contained in any claim of any patent owned by Red Hat must obtain Red Hat license to exercise such rights. Our pledge does not extend to any party initiating patent litigation against Red Hat with respect to a patent applicable to software (including counterclaims or counterclaims to a lawsuit). For the present, not license any hardware itself.
Each party who relies on Our Promise recognizes that this is not a guarantee that Red Hat patents are enforceable or that the exercise of rights under patents of Red Hat does not infringe the patent or other rights of intellectual property rights of any other entity. Red Hat denied any liability to any party who relies on our promise with regard to claims brought by any other entity for violations of intellectual property rights or otherwise. As a condition to exercise the patent rights allowed by our promise, each party who trusts in him will assume all responsibility in ensuring any other intellectual property rights needed, if any.
Thanks again DNU 
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