To: Adrian Bunk <bunk@stusta.de>
Cc: Daniel Hazelton <dhazelton@enter.net>, Alexandre Oliva <aoliva@redhat.com>,
       Linus Torvalds <torvalds@linux-foundation.org>,
       Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>, Greg KH <greg@kroah.com>,
       debian developer <debiandev@gmail.com>, david@lang.hm,
       Tarkan Erimer <tarkan@netone.net.tr>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
       Andrew Morton <akpm@linux-foundation.org>, mingo@elte.hu
Subject: Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 14 Jun 2007 04:56:40 +0200."
             <20070614025640.GQ3588@stusta.de>
From: Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu
References: <466A3EC6.6030706@netone.net.tr> <200706132140.13490.dhazelton@enter.net> <20070614020827.GO3588@stusta.de> <200706132243.14651.dhazelton@enter.net>
            <20070614025640.GQ3588@stusta.de>
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Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 00:00:17 -0400
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On Thu, 14 Jun 2007 04:56:40 +0200, Adrian Bunk said:

> Reality check:
> 
> Harald convinced companies that they have to provide the private keys 
> required to run the Linux kernel they ship on their hardware.

No, the *real* reality check:

The operative words here are "convinced companies" - as opposed to "convinced
a judge to rule that private keys are required to be disclosed". (I just
checked around on gpl-violations.org, and I don't see any news items that say
they actually generated citable case law on the topic of keys...)

Harald convinced companies that it was easier/cheaper/faster to provide the
private keys than to continue in a long legal battle with an uncertain outcome.
If the company estimates the total loss due to keys being released is US$100K,
but the costs of taking it to court are estimated at US$200K, it's obviously
a win (lesser loss, actually) for the company to just fold.

Incidentally, this same logic is what drives the average successful patent
troll lawsuit - the sued company will buy a license for $25K, just because
they know that fighting the lawsuit will cost $100K and up.


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