Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 08:54:36 +1030 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, A Joseph Koshy <koshy@india.hp.com> Cc: freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: General policy on trademark violations Message-ID: <19980213085436.13673@freebie.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <199802122154.NAA04198@dingo.cdrom.com>; from Mike Smith on Thu, Feb 12, 1998 at 01:54:15PM -0800 References: <199802121141.DAA19040@palrel1.hp.com> <199802122154.NAA04198@dingo.cdrom.com>
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On Thu, 12 February 1998 at 13:54:15 -0800, Mike Smith wrote: > >> 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. The expectation of success might be that somebody in the small party assesses the chances of their success (based on their financial ability) as small, and comes to the conclusion: > - Give in. >> Q3: Are the sources for the "extracted" parts available as a package >> from anywhere else in the world? > > Obviously, no. It's not that obvious. After the USL decision, FreeBSD and BSDI had to stop distributing Net/2. Two year later, Dr. Dobbs did a CD-ROM with the stuff on it. So what's this all about? Greg To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe hackers" in the body of the message
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