RE: How can we submit code patches that implement our (pending) patents?

From: "Tsunakawa, Takayuki" <tsunakawa(dot)takay(at)jp(dot)fujitsu(dot)com>
To: 'Tom Lane' <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us>
Cc: 'Nico Williams' <nico(at)cryptonector(dot)com>, Andres Freund <andres(at)anarazel(dot)de>, David Fetter <david(at)fetter(dot)org>, 'Craig Ringer' <craig(at)2ndquadrant(dot)com>, "pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org" <pgsql-hackers(at)lists(dot)postgresql(dot)org>
Subject: RE: How can we submit code patches that implement our (pending) patents?
Date: 2018-07-11 01:03:44
Message-ID: 0A3221C70F24FB45833433255569204D1FA4C6DD@G01JPEXMBYT05
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From: Tom Lane [mailto:tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us]
> The core team has considered this matter, and has concluded that it's
> time to establish a firm project policy that we will not accept any code
> that is known to be patent-encumbered. The long-term legal risks and
> complications involved in doing that seem insurmountable, given the
> community's amorphous legal nature and the existing Postgres license
> wording (neither of which are open for negotiation here). Furthermore,
> Postgres has always been very friendly to creation of closed-source
> derivatives, but it's hard to see how inclusion of patented code would
> not cause serious problems for those. The potential benefits of
> accepting patented code just don't seem to justify trying to navigate
> these hazards.

That decision is very unfortunate as a corporate employee on one hand, but the firm cleanness looks a bit bright to me as one developer.

As a practical matter, when and where are you planning to post the project policy? How would you check and prevent patented code?

Regards
Takayuki Tsunakawa

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