Novell deal requires Microsoft to offer patent grant to all GPLv3 software,
claims FSF.
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is to allow the Microsoft-Novell partnership under the latest draft of the General Public Licence v3 (GPL3) because it will force Microsoft to grant patent protection to all open source software developers.
The FSF published a Last Call draft of the licence on 31 May before the publication of the final document scheduled for June.
"We believe we can do more to protect the community by allowing Novell to use software under GPL3 than by forbidding it to do so," the FSF stated in a Final Discussion Draft Rationale document (PDF) to explain the most recent changes.
Microsoft and Novell unveiled a marketing, distribution and intellectual property partnership in October.
As part of the US$308m (AUD$370m) deal, Microsoft purchased 70,000 Linux 'coupons' that entitle the holder to a copy of Novell's SuSE Linux. Microsoft also provides the coupon holder with a licence for its patent portfolio.
Microsoft has said that it will not sue individual users, but insists that it should be compensated for alleged patent violations by Linux.
The patent provisions of the partnership have caused a storm of protest, and prompted the FSF to change the terms of the forthcoming third version of the GPL.
Microsoft chose to use coupons because it believes that they allow the company to sell Linux software without actually distributing the code.
Code distribution would subject the company to the current second version of the GPL which bans certain provisions of the partnership. The FSF, however, disputes the notion that Microsoft is not shipping the actual code.
Eben Moglen, founder and chairman of the Software Freedom Law Center, and co-author of the GPL, said that because Microsoft paid for the coupons in advance and uses Novell only as a shipping agent, it in essence distributes SuSE Linux.
While there are other elements in the deal that render Microsoft the legal distributor, Moglen stated that "the coupons make it absolutely clear".
It is furthermore inevitable that some customers will exchange their SuSE coupons after GPLv3 has been published and adopted by at least some components of Novell's Linux distribution.
According to the FSF, Microsoft will therefore end up distributing GPLv3 code and will have to abide by its terms.
These include a provision that forces any distributor of GPLv3 code to provide users and developers of all GPLv3 code with a free patent licence. A spokesperson for Microsoft declined to comment.
The GPLv3 will block any future deals similar to the Microsoft-Novell one. The previous draft of the licence left the door open to blocking past deals as well.
That would have prevented Novell from distributing software under the coupon programme.
Novell spokesman Kevan Barney said that the patent provision would have no direct impact on the Linux vendor.
He said that the current GPLv3 draft is "good news for our customers and others because it will not impede our ability to distribute Linux".
If Novell sides with the FSF interpretation of the Linux coupons, it would deal a major blow to Microsoft's ability to sell licences on its intellectual property portfolio.
The company has repeatedly aired its disapproval of patent violations by Linux, claiming earlier this month to have identified 235 patents violated by various open source projects.