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by atty 1715 days ago
From the license file:

> 3.4 Patent Claims. If you bring or threaten to bring a patent claim against any Licensor (including any claim, cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) to enforce any patents that you allege are infringed by any Work, then your rights under this License from such Licensor (including the grant in Section 2.1) will terminate immediately.

Is such a clause legal? I have basically zero knowledge of such things, but it seems like it should be illegal to punish someone for a good faith patent claim.
4 comments
teraflop 1715 days ago
As defined in the license, the capitalized term "Work" means only the StyleGAN3 software and derivatives. So it means you can't use StyleGAN3 while simultaneously claiming it infringes one of your patents, but it doesn't mean Nvidia can use StyleGAN3 against you as leverage in an unrelated patent suit.

I'm not a lawyer, and I won't comment on whether this is legal, but I'll note that it's quite similar to the patent clause in section 3 of the Apache Public License.

https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

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nerdponx 1715 days ago
Apache 2.0 has a very similar clause. But there might be some subtle differences in the wording that makes this broader or stricter.
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DannyBee 1715 days ago
Yes they are legal, and I'm not sure I follow the argument that they shouldn't be
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metagame 1715 days ago
The argument against it, presumably, is that "If you try and make us pay for committing crime, you won't get access to our toys anymore" is very strange and seems illegal, since the ability to play with toys should not stop anyone from reporting violations of the law.

But at the same time, it's definitely legal, for better or for worse, as is pretty much any stunt you pull with the joke that is US IP law.

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DannyBee 1714 days ago
This is not illegal in any country I can think of. Your take around what it exists to do is, IMHO, over the top.

I'm not aware of a country that requires you let people sue you in this sort of situation, or requires that you not terminate their contract if you do.

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trhway 1715 days ago
Is patent violation a crime? My understanding it is a civil issue like you kick me out of your property, and I'll kick you out too.
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metagame 1715 days ago
It is a civil issue rather than a criminal one, albeit still violation of law, which is why I used "crime" in the same way that the US government calls piracy and copyright infringement a crime despite it generally being a civil offense.
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metagame 1715 days ago
It is legal, yes. That license is awful and proprietary (3.3), but it's most definitely legal.
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