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Fun related tidbit: Fuhu beat PortableApps.com out on a software deal to distribute a package of portable Windows software on millions of flash drives despite h
by JohnTHaller 10y ago
Fun related tidbit: Fuhu beat PortableApps.com out on a software deal to distribute a package of portable Windows software on millions of flash drives despite having no apparent experience in that area. The software package that wound up bundled on the drives included software I wrote for PortableApps.com distributed in violation of the GPL with my name and copyright stripped off the binaries, documentation, and (reluctantly-provided) code.
I found it especially ironic when Fuhu later sued Toys R Us for launching a competing tablet in 2012: http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-fuhu-maker-of-the-kids-tablet-nabi-is-suing-toys-r-us/ http://www.zdnet.com/article/why-fuhu-maker-of-the-kids-tabl...
Relevant ironic section:
Mitchell said he decided to go ahead with a lawsuit in part because of what his two young daughters said after they found out about the Tabeo launch.
"They said, 'Dad, they're copying you. Isn't that wrong?' And I said, 'Yes, I do think they are copying me,'" he said. "We just felt we had to take a stand on this."
- umanwizard 10y agoJust curious, why didn't you sue for the GPL violation? Seems like a slam dunk.
- JohnTHaller 10y agoLaw doesn't really work for the little guy, sadly. It's next to impossible to get a lawyer to take on a case like that when you don't have a ton of money to pay them up front (like if you were bootstrapping a big open source project yourself and trying to make a commercial go of it). I know, I asked a bunch of them. There's a reason the vast majority of GPL violations go unpunished.
- DiabloD3 10y agoFor GPL software? You just ask the EFF or FSF. They like to destroy idiotic companies.
- _delirium 10y agoI believe the FSF only sues over code the FSF itself owns the copyright to, rather than acting as a general GPL-enforcement agency, since their lawyers feel themselves on more solid footing in that situation.
- JohnTHaller 10y agoThe FSF only goes after folks that violate software they own the copyright on. The EFF and SFLC only help non-profits and only in very specific circumstances.
- DiabloD3 10y agoFSF will ask you to assign copyright to them in those cases.
- nemild 10y agoI'm sorry to hear about this. How do lawyer's think about this situation (up front vs potential earnings) for something that seems like it could be a sure thing? Are there any legal financing options available to manage the fact that cash is needed up front?
- justinclift 10y agoAs a thought, since it sounds like you had fairly solid evidence of their shenanigans... maybe a blog posting on PortableApps detailing the problem + evidence might have been enough to get them to change their ways. The PortableApps website + Community has decent reach after all. :) Timeline-wise, was their legal dispute with Toys "R" Us over by then? If not, it may have been useful to let Toys "R" Us counsel know... ;)
- JohnTHaller 10y agoAt the time, I was under an NDA regarding negotiations of a possible deal with the very large memory vendor that ultimately picked Fuhu so they could have used that as a venue to sue me. Even now that the NDA has expired, I only shared a small portion of the situation. Sadly, if you can't afford to defend yourself in a lawsuit, you can't afford to speak truth to power.