[fab] discussion topics for red hat ceo

[Tom 'spot' Callaway]

On Mon, 2006-05-15 at 13:01 -0400, Mark Webbink wrote:
> This is not correct:
> 
> - Force the invalidation of the mp3 patents via estoppel
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estoppel) We know that lots of other
> distributions are including mp3 support (and have been for years, with
> no legal repercussions), we're the odd duck out. Thomson has to
> enforce
> that patent for everyone, not just for Red Hat, for it to stay valid.
> I
> say we re-enable mp3 support in Fedora Core 6, and call out Thomson on
> their poor patent enforcement.
> 
> Estoppel does not invalidate a patent.  It may provide a defense
> against an infringement claim, but a patent holder simply not
> enforcing a patent against someone else does not give you the right to
> assert an estoppel defense.  For the defense to be valid you would
> have to show that the patent holder has said or done something that
> induced you to change your behavior and that such reliance was
> reasonable.  Also, please note that there is nothing in the law that
> says that a patent holder has to treat all other parties equally.  A
> patent holder can choose to license one person and not license the
> next.

This is why I'm not a lawyer. Thanks for the clarification Mark!
I withdraw that item from Matthew's plate.

~spot
-- 
Tom "spot" Callaway: Red Hat Senior Sales Engineer || GPG ID: 93054260
Fedora Extras Steering Committee Member (RPM Standards and Practices)
Aurora Linux Project Leader: http://auroralinux.org
Lemurs, llamas, and sparcs, oh my!