Let's assume, that GPL 3 is finalized as is today, and that at that time the country I live in - Switzerland - still does not allow patents on software.
Software patents are still illegal in the majority of European countries. I write some software on my own, and because I live in Switzerland I do not care about if what I write is infringing any patents in some other countries. I decide to not keep the software for myself but rather make it available to others by publishing it. Q1: Can I use GPL 3 or would that force me to verify my software is encumbered by patents to not violate myself the terms of the GPL 3, or be forced to license the patent I would infringe outside of the place I live? I don't think this is related to the GPLv3, or any copyright license actually. If you violate a software patent, then you violate it. A copyright license cannot give anyone the right to simple violate patent laws, or any laws. What a license can do, which the GPLv3 tries to achive, is if a patent holder uses, modifies, or distributes the program then they cannot sue you for patent infrigment. Q2: If answer to Q1 ist that I cannot use "vanilla" GPL 3, am I allowed to add a clause through which I transfer the obligation to check for patent infrigements and to apply for a patent licence to the user of my software? That would make the software non-free, since one requires an special license that allows only a specific subset of people to use the software. Q3: If answer to Q2 ist, that I cannot transfer the obligation to check for patents to the user, can I simply license the software under GPL 3 with the added clause, that someone may use the software only in places which do not know about software patents? This would also make the software non-free. The ability to use it for any purpose, anywhere in the world, is a right that all users must have. Q4: Am I allowed to do such modifications and redistribute the software, or am I forced by the provisions of GPL 3 to either make sure my modification does not infringe someones patents or license myself the patent? This isn't something related to the GPLv3, it is related to how patent law works. So it is your task to check that you are not violating any patents, and you cannot put the burden on someone else. This is one of the major problem with software patents, it is impossible to check that you are violating single or several patents, they are written in a very vauge language. Q5: If the answer to Q4 is that I am not allowed to do such modficiations, but answer to Q2 says that I can transfer the obligtion to check for patent infringements and licence the patent to the user, am I then allowed to add such a clause to the licence of my modified software even though the software I used as base did not have such a clause? Once again, this would make the software non-free. The user should not have any obiligation to check anything. Q6: If the answer to Q4 is that I am not allowed to do such modficiations, but answers to Q3 says that I can limit the places where the software can be used, am I then allowed to add such a clause to the license of my modified software even though the software I used as base did not have such a clause? Yet again, this would make the software non-free, the right to use, modify, distribute and study software is a right that _all_ users _must_ have. I appreciate any answers to my questions. Hopefully my answers will be of help. _______________________________________________ Gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
