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WebM: Missing The Assurances Open Source Needs?

“Firstly, the new license Google is using for the project is one
that’s not been submitted to the Open Source Initiative for
approval. As it stands it possibly can’t be approved due to
Google’s ironic inclusion of a “field of use” restriction in the
patent grant (which is restricted to “this implementation of VP8”
rather than the more general grant in the Apache license from which
the text started).

“That means WebM is not currently open source, despite using a
license based on the BSD and Apache licenses. This problem can be
readily fixed by Google, and speaking as a member of the OSI Board
I’d love to see them submit a templatised version of this license
for approval.”


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