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The only problem with that license is when someone uses it, then I make use of their code, then they sue me for copyright violation. Or my code kills someone in
by mcherm 13y ago
The only problem with that license is when someone uses it, then I make use of their code, then they sue me for copyright violation. Or my code kills someone in a hospital and the patient sues the guy who wrote the code. And they win in court because the license doesn't satisfy the requirements of the court.
Look, I wouldn't let a lawyer tell me how to write my Java code. And I won't let a non-lawyer tell me how to write a legally binding license.
(If a competent lawyer reviews this license and pronounces it good, then I retract my objection. If the license gets tested in court and wins then it gets my full support.)
- johnnyhead 13y agoThanks mcherm, this is the best counter-argument to the WTFPL I read all day. I am myself extremely curious about what would happen in these two circumstances: 1) someone uses my work and then sues me for copyright infringment; 2) my work harms people.
- mcherm 13y agoUnfortunately, the legal system is intentionally designed in such a way that you can't easily satisfy your idle curiosity on that subject. You can ask a lawyer, who'll give you their best guess, but the only way to tell for sure is to get sued: there has to (with a few specialized exceptions) be an actual controversy before a court considers a question. This was (in programmer language) designed intentionally to protect scarce resources (court time) from certain kinds of denial-of-service attacks.