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Date:      Wed, 5 Nov 1997 12:14:15 +1030
From:      Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>
To:        Terry Lambert <tlambert@primenet.com>
Cc:        gdk@ccomp.inode.COM, jkh@time.cdrom.COM, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: mv /usr/src/games /dev/null - any objections?
Message-ID:  <19971105121415.21516@lemis.com>
In-Reply-To: <199711050140.SAA02677@usr02.primenet.com>; from Terry Lambert on Wed, Nov 05, 1997 at 01:40:09AM %2B0000
References:  <19971105105542.14468@lemis.com> <199711050140.SAA02677@usr02.primenet.com>

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On Wed, Nov 05, 1997 at 01:40:09AM +0000, Terry Lambert wrote:
>>> They mumble at you like they mumbled at Jordan, and they're in
>>> your competition space.
>>
>> That's like saying you can find bugs in code because they cause
>> SIGSEGVs.
>
> Welcome to "Introduction to Fuzzy Sets, 101".  That's a good
> analogy, in fact, since you *can* find bugs after the fact by
> looking at the stack traceback from the core.

Thanks.  It also shows that we're looking at this problem from
different standpoints.  If I were managing a project, and one of the
programmers told me that that was adequate debugging, I'd fire him.
Jordan's taking a similar stance on the dangers of unknown copyright
bugs.

>>> Doesn't Walnut Creek or FreeBSD, Inc. have a lawyer on retainer
>>> who is at least willing to test the water with an "Apple vs. Apple"
>>> citation in a response letter?
>>
>> I don't know, but I'm sure he would want money on a per-case basis.
>> Are you prepared to front it up?
>
> Do you know what a "retainer" is?  It's what you pay a lawyer to
> do minimal work for you on an "as needed" basis so that you don't
> have to pay him money on a case-by-case basis.

Yes, I know what a retainer is.  I'm saying that his retainer won't
cover the amount of work this kind of thing would involve.  At the
very least, he would want an increase in his retainer.

>> I agree with Jordan that we want to avoid legal hassles wherever
>> possible.  I get the impression that he's going overboard in throwing
>> out all games, but I don't care too much, especially if they're
>> available as ports.
>
> US politicians negotiate after terrorist kidnappings.
>
> Israeli politicians bomb terrorists families in retribution after
> terrorist kidnappings.
>
> Guess which country has fewer citizens held hostage at any one time?

Guess which country has fewer citizens.

OK, let's bomb the lawyers.  Since you're in the US, you can do my
part for me :-)

> If you bend over for jerks, you only make yourself a target for more
> jerks.
>
> Besides, I don't think their lawyers honestly understand the situation,
> and rather than setting a *bad* precedent, it's worth one letter
> attempting to clarify their understanding, and preclude similar
> situations in the future.
>
> I can't believe that *no one else* thinks that it's a *terrible* thing
> to tacitly confirm that the FreeBSD program name space equals the US
> trademark name space?!?  Or that this posit is even *capable* of being
> *in any way* true?!?

I don't suppose it would harm to send them a letter and ask them to
justify their claims.  *After* having removed the stuff (and not
telling them :-)

Greg



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