Added PATENTS.TXT file and link to it

Author: migueldeicaza

LICENSE

@@ -1,9 +1,8 @@
 
 In general, the runtime and its class libraries are licensed under the
 terms of the MIT license, and some third party code is licensed under
-the 3-clause BSD license.
-
-
+the 3-clause BSD license.  See the file "PATENTS.TXT" for Microsoft's
+patent grant on the Mono codebase.
 
 The Mono distribution does include a handful of pieces of code that
 are used during the build system and are covered under different

PATENTS.TXT

@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+Microsoft Patent Promise for Mono
+
+Microsoft Corporation and its affiliates (“Microsoft”) promise not to
+assert any Applicable Patents against you for making, using, selling,
+offering for sale, importing, or distributing Mono.
+
+If you file, maintain, or voluntarily participate in any claim in a
+lawsuit alleging direct or contributory patent infringement by Mono,
+or inducement of patent infringement by Mono, then your rights under
+this promise will automatically terminate.
+
+This promise is not an assurance that (i) any Applicable Patents are
+valid or enforceable or (ii) Mono does not infringe patents or other
+intellectual property rights of any third party. No rights except
+those expressly stated in this promise are granted, waived or received
+by Microsoft, whether by implication, exhaustion, estoppel or
+otherwise. This is a personal promise directly from Microsoft to you,
+and you agree as a condition of benefitting from it that no Microsoft
+rights are received from suppliers, distributors, or otherwise in
+connection with this promise.
+
+Definitions:
+
+“Mono” means those portions of the software development technology, as
+originally distributed by Xamarin, Inc. or the .NET Foundation under
+the name “Mono,” that implement .NET Framework Functionality, provided
+that such portions at a minimum implement all of the required parts of
+the mandatory provisions of Standard ECMA-335 – Common Language
+Infrastructure (CLI).
+
+“.NET Framework Functionality” means any functionality in Microsoft’s
+.NET Framework as described in Microsoft’s API documentation on
+Microsoft’s MSDN website, including the functionality in
+Windowsbase.dll, but excluding all other functionality in the Windows
+Presentation Foundation component of .NET Framework.
+
+“Applicable Patents” are those patent claims, currently owned by
+Microsoft and acquired in the future, that are necessarily infringed
+by Mono. For clarity, Applicable Patents do not include any patent
+claims that are infringed (x) by any underlying or enabling technology
+that may be used, combined, or distributed in connection with Mono
+(such as hardware, operating systems, or applications that run on
+Mono), (y) only as a consequence of modification of Mono, or (z) only
+by the combination of Mono with third party code.

README.md

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ create cross platform applications.  It is an open source
 implementation of Microsoft's .NET Framework based on the ECMA
 standards for C# and the Common Language Runtime.
 
+The Mono project is part of the [.NET Foundation](http://www.dotnetfoundation.org/)
+
 [![Gitter](https://badges.gitter.im/Join%20Chat.svg)](https://gitter.im/mono/mono?utm_source=badge&utm_medium=badge&utm_campaign=pr-badge&utm_content=badge)
 
 1. [Compilation and Installation](#compilation-and-installation)
@@ -507,3 +509,9 @@ to do at all), first edit `.gitmodules` to point to the new location, then:
 The desired output diff is a change in `.gitmodules` to reflect the
 change in the remote URL, and a change in /<submodule> where you see
 the desired change in the commit hash.
+
+License
+=======
+
+See the LICENSE file for licensing information, and the PATENTS.TXT
+file for information about Microsoft's patent grant.