
React, Facebook, and the Revokable Patent License. Why It’s a Paper Tiger. - EdwardMSmith
https://medium.com/@dwalsh.sdlr/react-facebook-and-the-revokable-patent-license-why-its-a-paper-25c40c50b562
======
blueplanet200
If it's a paper tiger then why are legal teams blocking teams from adopting
it?

There's the theoretical risk of patent infringement that this post addresses,
but the more important point (imo) is that the current state of affairs is
stopping React adoption for teams that, without the input from their careful
lawyers, would gladly adopt it. Or the fact the ASF legal team banned this
type of license as a dependency for any of their projects.

------
bostonvaulter2
Could facebook change the license at any time for future versions? I guess at
least they couldn't do that retroactively for previous versions since those
are already "released".

~~~
Lazare
Of course. As with any project, with the agreement of all copyright holders,
you can relicense at any time. Facebook has already changed the license twice.

You could, if you wanted, fork the original Apache v2 licensed version that
didn't contain the PATENTS file. (Although as per the linked article, why
would you want to?)

------
xinitrc_
I guess that's a double edged sword, right now it is harmless but who knows
where FB can take it

~~~
EdwardMSmith
A suppose, but the point of the analysis is that one edge of the sword is
pretty dull.

The point being that even in the extremely, vastly unlikely case that things
would progress to an actual patent infringement suit that you lose, in the
end, it may not matter, based on:

 _And even if Facebook could assert a valid patent protecting React, the
damages are very speculative. I cannot find a case awarding a judgement for
infringing a patent otherwise licensed through open source, but it’s not a
case I’d want to file. “Hey Juror #2, please award my client Facebook money
because we pulled a patent license that’s otherwise granted to millions of
other people free of charge.”_

