Hi folks. Since the Overte Foundation CLAs went live [1], we've had a bit of feedback from potential signees over the
patent clause.
Therefore, we have just pushed out version 2 of the CLAs which have the following significant updates. These both occur
in section 2.2, Patent License.
* There was some concern that changes made by third parties to a contribution would potentially automatically extend the
patent grants granted by the original contributor to other patents that they might own. This was never the intention
and extra text has been added to reassure that patent grants related only to the original unmodified contribution.
* Some pointed out that they would not be able to use their patents to defend themselves against litigation if they had
extended an irrevocable license to the litigator via the CLA. This seemed a reasonable concern, so 2.2 now contains a
paragraph (beginning "If any entity institutes patent litigation against You...") which terminates a contributed grant
to an entity if the contributor is being sued by that entity over alleged patent infringment by the contribution or by
OpenSimulator.
The text is identical to paragraph 3 in the Apache 2.0 Contributor License Agreement [2] and we believe is the furthest
that one can reasonably go in this matter.
The amended documents are live on the overte.org website [3] and extra text has been added to the faq [4] to explain the
change.
If you or your company have already signed the CLA, then there is no need to submit a new one, providing that you are
happy to keep contributing under the previous terms. If you want to contribute under the new terms, then please submit
a new agreement which will replace the previous one you have on file.
[1] http://lists.berlios.de/pipermail/opensim-dev/2011-September/010517.html
[2] http://www.apache.org/licenses/icla.txt
[3] http://overte.org
[4] http://www.overte.org/faq.html
Best Regards,
Justin Clark Casey, Overte President.
--
Justin Clark-Casey (justincc)
http://justincc.org/blog
http://twitter.com/justincc
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