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In practice, yes. First of all, all those organizations have enforced the gpl on behalf of "a team volunteer/hobbyist developers" from large companies. In fact,

In practice, yes. First of all, all those organizations have enforced the gpl on behalf of "a team volunteer/hobbyist developers" from large companies. In fact, it's the primary kind of enforcement they do. Second of all, individuals who have zero resources win lawsuits against large companies EVERY SINGLE DAY. Lawyers work on contingency and pro bono. Stop this hand waving crap saying the gpl can't "really" be enforced for volunteer efforts.

detaro 11y ago
From the article we are discussing, you probably should recommend grsecurity a few lawyers.
JohnTHaller 11y ago
Yeah, again, no it doesn't work that way. Again, the folks you mentioned generally only work for non-profits and individual hobbyist devs. They don't work with for-profit companies (even if the company isn't making a profit at present). And the whole contingency thing... a lot less common than you think. Speaking as someone that's had his copyright ripped off multiple times and been injured due to negligence by the city of New York and/or Amtrak and looked into it with multiple attorneys in each case. For the most part, the legal system serves those with means and those with means alone.
- belorn 11y ago
  The problem is the same for photographers as for coders. The law that prevent advertisement companies from lifting a image from flikr is the same that prevent companies from lifting some code and removing the license. Every time and again I read news about some photographer than sued some company and got a million or so for the efforts. Its not easy, quite expensive and I guess many author do give up rather than push forward, but there is recourse against huge companies that violate copyright. The good thing about such lawsuits is that the burden of proof for having a license sits on the infringer, which means a judge don't actually need to understand that fine details of software licenses in order to find someone guilty of infringement.
  - simoncion 11y ago
    All that notwithstanding, it appears that pursuing one of these cases is terribly expensive. Does the avenue exist? Yes. Is it actually available to those who don't have a bunch of cash to burn? No. As JohnTHaller said: "For the most part, the legal system serves those with means and those with means alone." As you said: "Its not easy, quite expensive..."
- randx838 11y ago
  > it doesn't work that way. Again, the folks you mentioned generally only work for non-profits and individual hobbyist devs "that way" which I said it worked, was for non-profits and hobbyist, and so was the comment I was replying to, so yes, it does work that way. > those with means and those with means alone. Your own comment explained says that it works for other people.

detaro 11y ago

From the article we are discussing, you probably should recommend grsecurity a few lawyers.

JohnTHaller 11y ago

Yeah, again, no it doesn't work that way. Again, the folks you mentioned generally only work for non-profits and individual hobbyist devs. They don't work with for-profit companies (even if the company isn't making a profit at present). And the whole contingency thing... a lot less common than you think. Speaking as someone that's had his copyright ripped off multiple times and been injured due to negligence by the city of New York and/or Amtrak and looked into it with multiple attorneys in each case. For the most part, the legal system serves those with means and those with means alone.

belorn 11y ago
The problem is the same for photographers as for coders. The law that prevent advertisement companies from lifting a image from flikr is the same that prevent companies from lifting some code and removing the license. Every time and again I read news about some photographer than sued some company and got a million or so for the efforts. Its not easy, quite expensive and I guess many author do give up rather than push forward, but there is recourse against huge companies that violate copyright. The good thing about such lawsuits is that the burden of proof for having a license sits on the infringer, which means a judge don't actually need to understand that fine details of software licenses in order to find someone guilty of infringement.
- simoncion 11y ago
  All that notwithstanding, it appears that pursuing one of these cases is terribly expensive. Does the avenue exist? Yes. Is it actually available to those who don't have a bunch of cash to burn? No. As JohnTHaller said: "For the most part, the legal system serves those with means and those with means alone." As you said: "Its not easy, quite expensive..."
randx838 11y ago
> it doesn't work that way. Again, the folks you mentioned generally only work for non-profits and individual hobbyist devs "that way" which I said it worked, was for non-profits and hobbyist, and so was the comment I was replying to, so yes, it does work that way. > those with means and those with means alone. Your own comment explained says that it works for other people.