Re: FAT patents. Do we need to revive non-US?

John Hasler wrote:
hendrik writes: 
Apparently there is now a patent on the FAT file system within the US,
anyway.  Do we have to rip it out of the kernel?


No (that patent is not new).

Do we have to stop distributing the kernel until we've done so? 

No.  The kernel probably infringes dozens, perhaps hundreds of patents.
Debian's policy is to ignore patents in the absence of evidence that the
owner is likely to enforce them on us.


Does this policy also determine the "non-free" designation, and/or whether
a package ends up in the Marillat repository, rather than main?


Is it time to revive the non-US repository so that at least the rest or
the world can still transfer files between Linux and Windows?

Don't forget non-DE as well. 

I never understood the reasoning for this approach.  This divides free software
according to local ordinances.  I think the countries which impose them should
be designated "non-free" instead.

This raises another point which is unclear to me -- how much of the current
"non-free" repository is like the old "non-US" in that the problem is really
non-free local ordinances, rather than software licenses?


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