Hacker News Reader

The BSD + Patents license doesn't imply anything about Facebook's own patents. React may not itself have any patents; that's not the point. The patents involved here are those not owned by Facebook. Facebook doesn't need patents on React to revoke your license to use React if you sue Facebook for patent infringement.

Edit: I see how my reading was wrong. The LICENSE file is still the same old 3-Clause BSD. The PATENTS file is what's new and different.

View on HN

It is EXACTLY the point, as the only thing that gets revoked is the patent grant - not the software license.

That point is even clarified by the Facebook FAQ on the license, but it still seems to confuse most people.

Most people seem to just read the part in PATENTS where it talks about a "license" being revoked and go "I KNOW THIS" thinking it talks about a copyright license.

It's excusable if English is not your native language, but "license" doesn't have to mean "copyright license".

Reply on news.ycombinator.com