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Comment by dada78641 | Hacker News Reader

It's undue paranoia. It says essentially the same thing as the Apache 'Grant of Patent License' section. Namely, if you instigate a patent lawsuit, the free patent license offered by Facebook no longer applies. It would be impossible for Facebook or Apache to engage in patent lawsuits if they did not include this termination clause.

Besides, Facebook is gonna sue you if you violate their patents, regardless of whether you use React or not. And the termination pertains to the patent license. They can't restrict your access to a BSD licensed software package.

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This isn't accurate according to what DannyBee says, an open source lawyer - please read my comment above at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9256093 that includes copy/paste of a comment he's made before.

TL;DR: Facebook is changing the BSD license from being an implied license to being an explicit license, so it's not the same as BSD license.

This raises some questions:

* If Facebook is "changing" the BSD license, why is the BSD license included verbatim and in full?

* Also, why does the PATENTS file explicitly state that it is an "ADDITIONAL grant of patent rights"?

* Why don't I see comments like the one I originally replied to being posted on articles pertaining to Apache? They have almost exactly the same wording in their statement.

I'll believe claims of Facebook "changing the BSD license" when they actually change the BSD license.

It's easier to piggyback on something, for practicality reasons, and perhaps to piggyback on the perception people have of it (maliciously or not).

ADDITIONAL could simply mean added to, not necessarily extra or supplementary - added, as in, included with - an overlay of BSD.

I agree, it'd be good if Facebook was more transparent as to what it all means. Stating that you'll believe it if they modify the actual BSD license, it's far more easy to take an existing - and generally accepted license - and then make an addition instead of making changes to it, no? So you don't have to call it something other than BSD?

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