Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S263546AbUJ2Unj (ORCPT ); Fri, 29 Oct 2004 16:43:39 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263443AbUJ2Uiq (ORCPT ); Fri, 29 Oct 2004 16:38:46 -0400 Received: from relay.snowman.net ([66.92.160.56]:24328 "EHLO relay.snowman.net") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S263522AbUJ2Udu convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Fri, 29 Oct 2004 16:33:50 -0400 Date: Fri, 29 Oct 2004 16:33:01 -0400 From: Stephen Frost To: Larry McVoy , Ram?n Rey Vicente , Scott Lockwood , Larry McVoy , Xavier Bestel , James Bruce , Linus Torvalds , Roman Zippel , Andrea Arcangeli , Linux Kernel Subject: Re: BK kernel workflow Message-ID: <20041029203301.GC12780@ns.snowman.net> Mail-Followup-To: Larry McVoy , Ram?n Rey Vicente , Scott Lockwood , Larry McVoy , Xavier Bestel , James Bruce , Linus Torvalds , Roman Zippel , Andrea Arcangeli , Linux Kernel References: <4180B9E9.3070801@andrew.cmu.edu> <20041028135348.GA18099@work.bitmover.com> <1098972379.3109.24.camel@gonzales> <20041028151004.GA3934@work.bitmover.com> <41827B89.4070809@hispalinux.es> <20041029173642.GA5318@work.bitmover.com> <41828707.3050803@hispalinux.es> <57875.65.208.227.246.1099074830.squirrel@www.lrsehosting.com> <4182923D.5040500@hispalinux.es> <20041029193924.GA10216@work.bitmover.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT In-Reply-To: <20041029193924.GA10216@work.bitmover.com> X-Editor: Vim http://www.vim.org/ X-Info: http://www.snowman.net X-Operating-System: Linux/2.4.24ns.3.0 (i686) X-Uptime: 16:21:02 up 272 days, 15:20, 17 users, load average: 0.07, 0.14, 0.16 User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.6+20040523i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org * Larry McVoy (lm@bitmover.com) wrote: > This is not getting us anywhere. You're not citing case law, you're > citing vague statements that don't apply here. And even if they do > apply, the law is a moving target, new case law changes the rules all > the time. Who's to say that we don't have a lawsuit in Spain and > and get new case law put in place that says you don't have such and > such a right unless you pay for the product? Who's to say someone > else doesn't do that? It's a moving target. Just to put it out there- there are places in the world where the legal system isn't based on case law. Don't know if Spain is that way or not. > On the other hand, if you have a program that does not lock up the data, > does not impede your ability to get your work done, is it reasonable for > you to go digging around in that product for the purposes of creating > a clone? Maybe, if the license doesn't prohibit that. Is it reasonable > for a license to prohibit that? I think so and so does BitMover's > legal counsel and so does outside counsel who are experts in contract > and copyright law. Are we right? Dunno. Maybe we go to court and > find out. Maybe we go to court and make new case law. An interesting parallel are 'no-compete' clauses which employers use to try and keep employees from being able to move from one company to a competeing one. These clauses are actually not enforcable in some jurisdictions because the lawmakers there felt it was unreasonable. This, really, is the light under which I'd think the BK license would be seen. Of course, IANAL, nor do I actually use (or have ever used) BK anyway. > The side that will win will be the side which is both reasonable and > has enough money to present that case. We think that's us. That's an unfortunate reality (the money bit). [...] > is I wouldn't do that if I were you. It doesn't look reasonable to me > and I'll bet you long odds that it won't look reasonable to a jury. It's unlikely that a jury would be involved in such a case since it's unlikely the facts themselves would be in dispute. Stephen - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/