Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Tue 14th Jun 2005 04:11 UTC
Sun Microsystems is expected to release Solaris as open-source software Tuesday, a centerpiece of the company's plan to regain lost relevance and fend of rivals Red Hat, IBM and Microsoft. 
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Firstly, I have no insight into what Sun plan from a legal perspective.
Thanks for the long post, I better understand what you are
saying now. I can only say that the patent grants come
with the CDDL. If you implement a mechanism covered by a Sun
patent in a non-CDDL work then you are in patent infringement, same as always.
If you want to use Suns code and patents you should adhere
to the terms and conditions of the license.
I think if you re-implement the technology you would:
A) Still be liable for any patent infringement.
B) Be encumbered by having 'studied' the source. You could
probably get away with a clean room implementation.
I think the likelihood of Sun going round suing people left,
right and centre is pretty low being realistic.
It's a bit unfair to say that CDDL is preventing GPL
developers from taking Solaris source and incorporating it
into their work as the incompatibility exists in the GPL not the CDDL.