Hacker News Reader

Not a lawyer, but as I understand it:

The Go and Kubernetes patent licenses terminate if you file litigation specifically regarding those projects-- if you sue anyone for violating some garbage collector patent in Go, you lose the patent licenses Go granted.

Facebook's patent license terminates if you sue Facebook, subsidiaries, or "any party relating to the Software" for any patent infringement. It doesn't have to be related to React.

View on HN

Thanks, very interesting difference.

Google's grant protects (or tries to protect) specific tech, Facebook's grant protects (or tries to protect) as an umbrella, the organisation.

Well - can't comment on how effective it will be as a disincentive to sue, but I do feel at the same time if it does succeed in that goal it will almost certainly act equally as a negative factor in adoption; because it's my opinion that this is creating a soft-walled garden around Facebook open source tech.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com