Peter Armand Menon

Authored Comments

Dear Mr. Tiller, I would like to draw your attention to a specific IPR issue facing many Open Source Users. When Oracle acquired SUN, they got MySQL as baggage, baggage that one might add - millions of Sys-Admins and their User Groups were seriously dependent on.

Today, Oracle has unilaterally changed the MySQL Licensing terms and in the process adopted a legal stance that forces any "Private/Bespoke System" User of MySQL flee rapidly.

The issue I would like to emphasise is that MySQL would not have got to into widespread use without the open and intense participation of its Users - both Open Source Projects and "Private/Bespoke Systems".

It is inevitable that Users in a MySQL type scenario will wonder how the Patent System can be altered to accommodate the Fully Participating Users of Open Source Projects, who do not have Investor stakes or any influence on the owner/managers of the project?

Kind regards
Peter