Re: Spring Loaded Folders Reloaded

[Alexander Larsson <alexl redhat com>]

On 28 Feb 2003, Christophe Fergeau wrote:

> > 
> > That would mean you can't distribute nautilus.
> > 
> > >From the GPL:
> > 7.  If, as a consequence of a court judgment or allegation of patent 
> > infringement or for any other reason (not limited to patent issues), 
> > conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or 
> > otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, 
> 
> For now, none of this has happened, and we don't even know if something
> will happen if the patch is committed. Is macosx still using this kind
> of spring loaded folders ?

Yes MacOS X has it, and Apple has been refiling this patent ("continuing 
it", whatever that means in patent-speak) five times, latest in 2000.

> Moreover, us patents are so crazy that if you start paying attention to
> them, you won't write any software. I'm quite sure I can find a patent
> which may apply to the idea of gnome-vfs modules, or to a file manager
> with themeable folders, or whatever. Will you stop distributing nautilus
> if I find such a patent ?
> I really wish nobody noticed this spring loaded thing was patented, this
> would have gotten included without much fuss and worries :)

This is a well known patent though. Most people who works in the UI space 
knows about it.

-- 
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
 Alexander Larsson                                            Red Hat, Inc 
                   alexl redhat com    alla lysator liu se 
He's a gun-slinging moralistic shaman trapped in a world he never made. She's 
a bloodthirsty extravagent mermaid living on borrowed time. They fight crime!