Date: Tue, 23 Feb 1999 22:54:09 +0200 (EET) From: Narvi <narvi@haldjas.folklore.ee> To: Mark Ovens <marko@uk.radan.com> Cc: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, dyson@iquest.net, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: The GPL and the Robinson-Patman Act Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.96.990223224954.6736G-100000@haldjas.folklore.ee> In-Reply-To: <19990223203052.B216@localhost>
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On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, Mark Ovens wrote: > On Tue, Feb 23, 1999 at 08:30:48PM +0200, Narvi wrote: > > > > On Tue, 23 Feb 1999, Mark Ovens wrote: > > > > > If FreeBSD Inc. were to take GPL'd code and add it to the source tree > > > under a Berkeley-style licence what could the FSF do about it? The 2 > > > comments quoted above suggest that the FSF could possibly afford legal > > > action against FreeBSD, but what if it was Sun, IBM, M$ etc. I can't > > > believe that they could afford to take on a company of that size. > > > > > > > a) it would be the worst thing to do - for FreeBSD a complete PR > > catastrophe. > > b) they would not depend upon courts but on publicity and flaming and > > boycotts, etc. > > > > I realize that, and that is, I suspect, the main reason why we > respect the terms of the GPL (even if we don't agree with them). UHHH.... I am pretty much sure the FreeBSD project respects GPL for just the reason that the FreeBSD project respects copyrights, period. > > What I was more interested in was the legal situation if a commercial > organization were to use GPL'd code in that way. I hardly think M$ > would be concerned about bad PR from the Linux world. > a) they would be concerned. If proven, it would be very bad PR in general. Remeber that MS is very active in that FUD terrorist organisation BSA. b) An easy case would also be an easy case in the court more likely than not. MS cannot take a long copyright infringement case, at least not right now. c) What's the reason? MS can always hire n more programmers to write the exact same code without major delay. > -- > FreeBSD - The Power To Serve http://www.freebsd.org > My Webpage http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~markov > _______________________________________________________________ > Mark Ovens, CNC Apps Engineer, Radan Computational Ltd. Bath UK > CAD/CAM solutions for Sheetmetal Working Industry > mailto:marko@uk.radan.com http://www.radan.com > Sander There is no love, no good, no happiness and no future - all these are just illusions. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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