Random comments on LinuxBIOS

[Jeremy Jackson]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric W. Biederman" <ebiederman at lnxi.com>
To: "ollie lho" <ollie at sis.com.tw>
Cc: "Adam Agnew" <agnew at cs.umd.edu>; "Jeremy Jackson" <jerj at coplanar.net>;
"McMechan, James W CIV" <james.mcmechan at navy.mil>; "LinuxBIOS Mailing List"
<linuxbios at clustermatic.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 3:26 AM
Subject: Re: Random comments on LinuxBIOS


> ollie lho <ollie at sis.com.tw> writes:
> >
> > Wow !! It is really a patent evil. Prof Arbaugh invented the patent
> > but assigned it to U of Penn such that he and/or his student can not
> > do some things related in U of Maryland ??
>
> I wonder if there is enough wiggle room in there to walk around the
> patent in a LinuxBIOS scenario.  Our standing assumptions are quite
> different, and there are some of the pieces suggested that have much
> cleaner alternatives.

That was my thought as well.  To be air tight would require getting (ie
purchasing a copy) of the full text of the patent, and comparing etherboot,
etc. against the claims.  It specifically states (as do most patents) that
the examples given (ie the freely available part you get on the website) do
not limit the scope of the patent, and that the claims state what is covered
by the patent.

Regards,

Jeremy