[Mesa-dev] [PATCH mesa] docs: fix patent url

[Chuck Atkins]

>
> On 20 February 2018 at 17:20, Chuck Atkins <chuck.atkins at kitware.com>
> wrote:
> > FWIW, the patent should expire this June in which case it should no
> longer
> > be an issue.
> >
> I think you're confusing "application fill-in date" with "date patent
> issued".


Nope.  Last year I contacted RPX Holdings, the compay that currently holds
the patent, to see if it would be feasible for a reasonable cost for
Kitware to get a license to this patent so we could distribute pre-compiled
mesa binaries in ParaView with that feature enabled.  The costs associated
with it wasn't going to be reasonable from a business stand point so we
didn't do it.  Howevr, in those discussions RPX did inform us that the
patent will expire "next yer", i.e. 2018, so we would only need the license
for a year.

The history of this particular patent is actually pretty interesting since
it folows much of the slicing and dicing and acuiring and selling of SGI
over the past two decades.

I asusme we'd want some official legally binding approval before
blanket-enabling it again but based on my conversations with RPX it seems
they're operating on the premise of 20y + the effective date in '98

- Chuck
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