patrick.net

The perceived risk attached to the patent clause hinges on how Facebook can revoke the patent license if a React user challenges its patents or sues the company for patent infringement — meaning Facebook could bring a patent infringement claim against a person or entity suing it for patent infringement.

So companies, especially those with large patent portfolios, may well have concerns if they are using open source software which incorporates Facebook’s React framework — even if Automattic feels comfortable on its own account.

Some of the fiercest critics of the patent clause have dubbed React a “‘Trojan horse’ into the open source community”.

Writing on Hacker News in the wake of the ASF’s move, developer Kevinflo summed up his concerns thus: “Even if we paint all of their actions in the most favorable possible light, and even if the clause is a paper tiger as some have claimed, it doesn’t matter. This is not how open source should work. We should not have to debate for years if a project’s license is radioactive. Especially individual devs like myself who just want to use a great tool. We should be able to just use it, because it’s open and that’s what open means. This is so much worse than closed. It’s closed masquerading as open.”