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"Either way, it's beneficial to our entire community to find out what the judges think." Bold and inaccurate statement. There's a 100% chance that it won't be
by tacos 12y ago
"Either way, it's beneficial to our entire community to find out what the judges think."
Bold and inaccurate statement. There's a 100% chance that it won't be beneficial at all to "the entire community."
Also, the judges in the fancy courthouse aren't any less prone to error than the ones sitting ringside at boxing matches.
Which is why cooler heads have prevailed on these matters for so long.
All sides (copyleft, non-copyleft, and proprietary) have a lot to lose and the unresolved tension was largely keeping things in check. Until the FSF chimes in I'd be hesitant to encourage this with financial support.
- jdjb 12y agoHow exactly is the unresolved tension keeping things in check? The untested nature of how far the GPL can hold up in court is exactly why we see violations of the GPL so flagrantly. It's exactly why violators of the GPL are willing to let this go to court (if there was ample precedent of the GPL being upheld it is reasonable to assume most corps would choose to settle issues like these before they escalate to a law suit). If the GPL is never proven to be upheld (at least to the point where most legal corporate accepts it) by the courts then it is a meaningless licence that only matters to free software advocates and geeks.
- tacos 12y agoLegal documents aren't tight programs rigidly followed to by a computer. They're rough sketches that Judges are given enormous latitude to interpret. Several bad things could happen here, not the least of which is that people avoid the GPL for new projects while this plays out. Agreements are just that -- agreements. The tension that both sides know that they can seek judicial relief in the event of a dispute arguably is the entire basis of civilization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisprudence http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jurisprudence
- mikegioia 12y agoThe FSF has already made a statement: https://www.fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit https://www.fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-g...