Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 08:37:53 +0100 (MET) From: Søren Schmidt <sos@FreeBSD.ORG> To: mike@smith.net.au (Mike Smith) Cc: koshy@india.hp.com, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: General policy on trademark violations Message-ID: <199802130737.IAA01675@sos.freebsd.dk> In-Reply-To: <199802122154.NAA04198@dingo.cdrom.com> from Mike Smith at "Feb 12, 98 01:54:15 pm"
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
In reply to Mike Smith who wrote:
>
> > Q1: How far is FreeBSD willing to go in the direction of ripping out
> > portions of its source base? Is it willing to remove files in
> > non-games directories?
>
> If such files reasonably constitute trademark violations, and there is
> a real threat of action, then *something* will have to be done, yes.
Well, somethings has to be done yes, but we are not in agreement on
what should be done, that's life.
I think the requests so far has been outright stupid, those games has
been in the *BSD tree for years, why are they suddenly so important ?
This is just some lawyers trying to make $$, when it gets clear to
them that there is NONE, they will find other things to persue
pretty quickly.
> > Q2: What about programs, files and directories in the source tree that
> > "violate trademarks" in other countries like India, Japan, and Russia?
> > Will the FreeBSD project be willing be rip out parts of its source
> > base to satisfy litigants from other countries?
>
> It's not a question of "being willing", and this is, I think, where
> people are missing the point.
>
> If the FreeBSD project is faced with litigative action over a trademark
> infringement, what courses of action are available?
>
> - Fight it in court. This is only an option if a donor with a few
> million spare to spend on a hopeless case turns up. Trademark
> litigation is rarely started against small parties without some
> expectation of success.
>
> - Give in.
I think that one of our biggest problems here is the "affiliation"
with Walnut Creek, the legalese people see a company that they can
sue for real money. Remember the requests to remove parts of our
sources allways came via WC. If we where just a "free" project
(which we are, but the world doesn't allways see it right), there
would be NO idea in sueing (read NO MONEY to winn).
> > Q3: Are the sources for the "extracted" parts available as a package
> > from anywhere else in the world?
>
> Obviously, no. You can get them off an old FreeBSD CDROM though.
Or you can go to NetBSD and OpenBSD they still have the bits around,
they havn't given in (power to them on that account).
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Søren Schmidt (sos@FreeBSD.org) FreeBSD Core Team
Even more code to hack -- will it ever end
..
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199802130737.IAA01675>