So, wait, let me get this straight:<p>React has a revokable patent grant, people freak out about it, FB removes the patent grant, everyone rejoices.<p>GraphQL <i>doesn't</i> have a patent grant, people freak out about it, FB adds a revokable patent grant, everyone rejoices.<p>What am I missing?
I'm not, by any means, a licensing expert but OWFa (the new spec license) has the following termination clause:<p>> All rights, grants, and promises made by me to you under this Agreement are terminated if you file, maintain, or voluntarily participate in a lawsuit against me or any person or entity asserting that its Permitted Uses infringe any Granted Claims you would have had the right to enforce had you signed this Agreement, unless that suit was in response to a corresponding suit first brought against you<p>Wasn't this the problem with the previous BSD + patents license? Not criticizing by any means, I'm genuinely curious.
Great news! This follows on the heels of the relicensing of React, Jest, Flow, and Immutable.js. All MIT licensed now. Thank you, Facebook for taking the high road here and putting developers first.
Awesome news, now we can reconsider using GraphQL at GitLab! :) <a href="https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/34754#note_41492393" rel="nofollow">https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab-ce/issues/34754#note_41...</a><p>Out of curiosity, does anyone know of any other specs licensed under OWFa?
For previous context and discussion that led to this decision, this is the GraphQL issue to look at: <a href="https://github.com/facebook/graphql/issues/351" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/facebook/graphql/issues/351</a><p>The original Medium post from an IP attorney is linked in the original issue comment, but I will link it here too as it was a catalyst: <a href="https://medium.com/@dwalsh.sdlr/using-graphql-why-facebook-now-owns-you-3182751028c9" rel="nofollow">https://medium.com/@dwalsh.sdlr/using-graphql-why-facebook-n...</a>
In my opinion this is a lot more important than relicensing React. There are a few libraries that do React's job even better than React. But GraphQL and Relay are a bigger game changer... a 10x improvement compare to the current use of REST for server/client communication.
Are these licensing changes retroactive? If I'm already running Facebook's GraphQL reference implementation, do I have to upgrade to be free of the patent restrictions?
This is a far more important change than the React one, because GraphQL does actually have patents and didn't have a patent grant.<p>Glad to see it, and learning about the OWFa license :)
I obviously don't know for certain, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was Matt Mullenweg who framed the issue in a way that resonated well enough with Facebook to make them change their approach to licensing so drastically and swiftly...<p>> I think Facebook’s clause is actually clearer than many other approaches companies could take, and Facebook has been one of the better open source contributors out there. But we have a lot of problems to tackle, and convincing the world that Facebook’s patent clause is fine isn’t ours to take on. It’s their fight.<p><a href="https://ma.tt/2017/09/on-react-and-wordpress/" rel="nofollow">https://ma.tt/2017/09/on-react-and-wordpress/</a><p>That last part summed it up perfectly for me. Facebook may well have been right (and I personally believe they were), but it's their responsibility to prove they're right to the world, not ours.