Meta Platforms—Facebook's BSD+Patents license on React caused Apache Foundation to ban the library, forcing relicensing to MIT
In 2017, Facebook's React JavaScript library used a BSD+Patents license that included a patent retaliation clause, meaning users who sued Facebook for any patent infringement would lose their license to use React. The Apache Software Foundation banned the license, calling it incompatible with Apache projects. After widespread community backlash and organizations threatening to migrate away, Facebook relicensed React, Jest, Flow, and Immutable.js to the standard MIT license in September 2017.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Source Licensing Integrity | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.429 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (medium ×1) × confidence (0.57)× agency (reactive ×0.75)
Evidence (1 signal)
The Register reports Apache Foundation banned Facebook's BSD+Patents license, forcing React relicensing
In 2017, the Apache Software Foundation classified Facebook's BSD+Patents license as Category X (prohibited), banning its use in Apache projects. After widespread community backlash including WordPress announcing it would migrate away from React, Facebook relicensed React and related projects to the standard MIT license in September 2017.