[ Thanks to rimdo for this link.
]
“Q: Has the SCO lawsuit changed your daily work
practices at all, and do you envision a screening process before
code is submitted or accepted, rather than letting copyright
holders check after it’s accepted?“A: We’ve had screening processes in place for
the longest time, but they’ve not been for IP issues as much as a
way to let people comment publicly on new features.“Does putting the responsibility to find patent
infringement on the patent-holders run the risk that the patent
will come to light after someone has included patented material in
Linux, after which it will be extremely difficult to
extricate?“Finding patent infringement has always been a
responsibility of the patent holders. I didn’t put it there…It is
a fact that I do not encourage engineers to look up patent
information, for example. You ask any lawyer about it, and they
will tell you that I’m right. It’s not the job of an
engineer to try to find out about other peoples patents, since that
just taints them, exactly something you do not want to
happen…”