4 ms·

Hopefully they just sue him to so that he learns the value of a contract.

slantyyz 16y ago
Was there a contract? The murky legal problem with the GPL and other free software licenses is that there isn't any consideration (no exchange of money), or proof of offer and acceptance. It's a lot easier to prove with paid software and the clicking of a checkbox. IANAL, but it would be interesting to know if there's any legal precedents for the enforceability of free/gpl/open source licenses.
- Otto42 16y ago
  The GPL has been upheld as a perfectly valid and enforceable license on many occasions. However, in all those cases, this happened via initial injunctions or the like, not in an actual final case itself. Basically, once the license was ruled valid by the judge, it becomes very clear that one side had no case and thus they settled to avoid a protracted suit. The GPL is well-tested in that respect.
  - slantyyz 16y ago
    I guess the problem, especially in the US, is that no case has gone to judgment. It also doesn't help that certain states show certain biases in interpretation. Notice that a lot of patent cases go to Texas? My presumption on some of the cases where the GPL has been most successful without going to judgement is that those have been the ones where there is the clearest infringement (i.e., Linksys 'borrowing code' for their routers, etc), i.e., direct copies or only slightly modified versions of the original source. If it gets far enough, I think it will come down to a layperson's (judge or jury) interpretation (based on lawyer and witness arguments) on whether a theme is like reselling a modified car (i.e., Ruf Turbo - a modified Porsche), or an aftermarket car stereo (i.e., one that reverse engineered an automaker's proprietary connector). Yes, code is intangible, unlike a car, and there are places where my overly simplistic analogy breaks apart, but it's not unheard of to look at it in this manner. A federal judge recently compared mp3 torrent sharing to playing music in a business - not that similar, but in the grand scheme of things, you can see some parallels.

Was there a contract? The murky legal problem with the GPL and other free software licenses is that there isn't any consideration (no exchange of money), or proof of offer and acceptance. It's a lot easier to prove with paid software and the clicking of a checkbox. IANAL, but it would be interesting to know if there's any legal precedents for the enforceability of free/gpl/open source licenses.

Otto42 16y ago
The GPL has been upheld as a perfectly valid and enforceable license on many occasions. However, in all those cases, this happened via initial injunctions or the like, not in an actual final case itself. Basically, once the license was ruled valid by the judge, it becomes very clear that one side had no case and thus they settled to avoid a protracted suit. The GPL is well-tested in that respect.
- slantyyz 16y ago
  I guess the problem, especially in the US, is that no case has gone to judgment. It also doesn't help that certain states show certain biases in interpretation. Notice that a lot of patent cases go to Texas? My presumption on some of the cases where the GPL has been most successful without going to judgement is that those have been the ones where there is the clearest infringement (i.e., Linksys 'borrowing code' for their routers, etc), i.e., direct copies or only slightly modified versions of the original source. If it gets far enough, I think it will come down to a layperson's (judge or jury) interpretation (based on lawyer and witness arguments) on whether a theme is like reselling a modified car (i.e., Ruf Turbo - a modified Porsche), or an aftermarket car stereo (i.e., one that reverse engineered an automaker's proprietary connector). Yes, code is intangible, unlike a car, and there are places where my overly simplistic analogy breaks apart, but it's not unheard of to look at it in this manner. A federal judge recently compared mp3 torrent sharing to playing music in a business - not that similar, but in the grand scheme of things, you can see some parallels.