exFAT is no longer encumbered

[Carmel NY]

On Sun, 29 Dec 2019 18:51:41 -0700, Adam Weinberger stated:
>On Sun, Dec 29, 2019 at 6:38 PM Kevin P. Neal <kpn at neutralgood.org>
>wrote:
>>
>> On Sat, Dec 28, 2019 at 01:01:52AM -0600, Greg Rivers wrote:  
>> > As of last August, Microsoft have relaxed the patent restrictions
>> > on exFAT[1].
>> >
>> > Can the Makefile LICENSE_PERMS_MSPAT restrictions be removed from
>> > sysutils/fusefs-exfat? Might exFAT make it into the FreeBSD base
>> > system (like msdosfs) one day?
>> >
>> >
>> > [1]
>> > <https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/opensource/2019/08/28/exfat-linux-kernel/>
>> >  
>>
>> I'm not sure that counts as a license. IANAL, but I'd like to see an
>> explicit granting of a license to anyone at no cost, and the license
>> needs to be transferable.
>>
>> The way Berkeley eliminated the advertising clause was good. Simply
>> saying "Microsoft is supporting the addition of" doesn't really say
>> anything. It's a statement of corporate direction and nothing else.  
>
>Expanding on what Kevin said,
>https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/legal/intellectualproperty/mtl/exfat-licensing.aspx
>suggests that (a) exFAT is still patented and restricted as before,
>and (b) GPLv2 licensing was granted only for the Linux kernel module
>that they submitted.
>
>The BSD License grants the ability to use BSD-licensed code in
>commercial products, so I'm not sure that Microsoft would want to
>relax their licensing for us. As Kevin said, IANAL.
>
># Adam

I imagine that someone could actually inquire. It would cost nothing
and end this FUD that is surrounding this subject.

	http://aka.ms/celaiplicensing

-- 
Carmel
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