Re: Software implementing patented techniques

Simon Josefsson <[email protected]> Sat, 14 Feb 2026 21:40:02 +0100

Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.legal
Message-ID	<[email protected]>

Don Armstrong <[email protected]> writes:

> On Tue, 10 Feb 2026, Simon Josefsson wrote:
>> Is that in effect? Under what authority? It looks like a random
>> webpage on debian.org without clear authorship or status.
>
> It's documenting the legal advice on patents that Debian obtained. (If I
> remember correctly in consultation with the SFLC.[1,2])
>
> Its purpose is to limit the risk to Debian as a whole from patents and
> provide appropriate legal avenues with attorney-client privilege to
> discuss specific issues about specific patents.
>
>> That Debian patent policy reads out of touch with todays reality IMHO.
>
> It's a baseline policy.

Is anyone following the policy?  https://www.debian.org/legal/patent

Is a violation against the policy RC-worthy?

Without being linked by the Debian Policy (or some other relevant
document), it seems the document is not actually operative.

If we would start to look, I believe there are tons of violations in
Debian here, to the point where one would quickly question if enforcing
this policy is a realistic goal.  Patent encumbered FOSS is widely
deployed these days.

While I like the policy (and see now particular reason to work on a
change), I suspect that its consequences (e.g., removing ML-KEM from
OpenSSL) is not something most Debian developers would sympathise with.
Or we don't have general agreement how to interpret the policy.

/Simon

> There are probably some areas that we can improve the stance of the
> project and FOSS in general in the patent area, but it's challenging
> without a portfolio of patents and cash to spend on lawyers. [And even
> that would be risky, as that may increase our strategic exposure to
> patent related lawsuits.]
>
> If that's an area that you're interested in, worth talking to our
> friends in the SFLC and other free software distributions to figure out
> a strategy.
>
> 1: https://www.debian.org/reports/patent-faq
> 2: https://softwarefreedom.org/news/2011/aug/18/debian-patent-faq/
>

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