The Apache 2.0 patent clause says:Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor hereby grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work, where such license applies only to those patent claims licensable by such Contributor that are necessarily infringed by their Contribution(s) alone or by combination of their Contribution(s) with the Work to which such Contribution(s) was submitted....If You institute patent litigation against any entity (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that the Work or a Contribution incorporated within the Work constitutes direct or contributory patent infringement, then any patent licenses granted to You under this License for that Work shall terminate as of the date such litigation is filed. What does that serve to protect? As Apache 2.0 isn't a copyleft license, I can license your code and re-distribute it as a proprietary patent-encumbered product.Is it to ensure that the original author is giving up his patent rights? Then why not put it outside the license and let the license be GPL2 compatible?
Against what does the Apache 2.0 patent clause protect?
patents;apache 2.0