Re: Oracle indemnifies PostgreSQL on its patents

Alvaro Herrera wrote:
> Luke Lonergan wrote:
>> Bruce,
>>
>> This is big news - has anyone checked to see if the agreement for the OIN is
>> in perpetuity?  Or is their agreement to not pursue patents only for as long
>> as they are members?
> 
> I would be worried if I were you (or Joshua Drake for that matter): does
> the agreement apply to commercial companies deriving products from
> PostgreSQL as well?  Note that in the case of most projects, which are
> licensed under the GNU GPL, this is not an issue, because any derivative
> must also be GNU GPL.

If Oracle truly (or IBM etc..) really was interested in "Protecting 
Linux" or other FOSS software, they would put the patent in the public 
domain.

The PostgreSQL project should not give any credence to these 
announcements and should avoid all patent issues possible.

Sincerely,

Joshua D. Drake



-- 
      === The PostgreSQL Company: Command Prompt, Inc. ===
Sales/Support: +1.503.667.4564 || 24x7/Emergency: +1.800.492.2240
Providing the most comprehensive  PostgreSQL solutions since 1997             http://www.commandprompt.com/

Donate to the PostgreSQL Project: http://www.postgresql.org/about/donate
PostgreSQL Replication: http://www.commandprompt.com/products/