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"Future Tech" vs KDE Developer
I've been a huge fan of Liquid for some time. I've been compiling releases and using on my laptop. The project isn't nearly as ambitious as Enlightenment, but it has some interesting UI ideas and it looks good. I was really pleased when I found out that Mosfet was going to have a shot at continuing the development of the program for FT under the KDE License. At this point, FT ("The Total Linux Company," according to their website) mentioned a few of the features in Liquid as being part of the benefits of FT's distribution. This was to set them apart from "Other" distributions, although even at the time I found it funny, as The final decision in selecting one RPM based distribution over another would rarely be tipped in favor of the one with translucent menus ;)
Anyway the Changelog contains the following line:
* Future Technologies' name has been removed. They hired me to do KDE development, but failed to pay me after promising to do so three times over the span of several months :( I still haven't seen any of the paychecks they said they would send me, and they even went as far as sending me a fake FedEx number. Now they are saying they can't afford to pay their employees.
And soon after Mosfet's website announced that he was leaving Linux and Liquid was dead. Unable to afford to develop Liquid for free, he was seeking work in the windows world.
According to the site, on 10/28, Dr. Giovanni asked Mandrakesoft, the host of Mosfet.org to take down the site, under threat of legal action. But since I see the site still there, it looks like they are standing their ground which is a good thing.
Anyway, I don't know what the moral of the story is, beyond a warning to keep both eyes open. There is a lot of questionable stuff that goes on in this world. Be careful.
(I've emailed Giovanni from FT but have yet to hear back from him.)
If the story is true, isn't it interesting that they can't afford to pay this guy for his work but they can afford the legal costs to sue him? Or maybe they got a lawyer to take it on contingency. If they won the lawsuit, would they have to pay him out of their winnings?
Seems to me that, if the facts are as stated, Mosfet has a clear mechanic's lein on the software. If it was done as a work for hire, and he was not paid, then he owns the copyright free and clear.
-russ
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
I beleive Mosfet has a right to sue FT for making downloads of FTLiquid available even though they haven't paid him for his work. He should still retain the copyrights to his work and be able to control the distribution of it. Or does that not play in the Open source framework?
It's a shame that a decent dude lost his apartment, had a sore ass, and has to deal with a loser CEO.
Good luck Mosfet, maybe we should start a charity fund.
The general public, on the other hand, got a really kewl KDE theme with translucent menus. That's the benefit of Open source. Hopefully development will continue from somewhere to turn this into a mature feature of KDE. If not, then somebody else can pick up the code and continue to improve it. If it wasn't open sourced, you can be assured that it would be dead in the water, never to mature.
Keeping
IANYL
Assuming that everything in the story is true, and that the contract included terms to pay Mosfet for his work, then FT is in breach of contract, and any consideration that Mosfet assigned to FT through the contract (including assignment of IP rights) is void. So all such considerations remain with Mosfet, and FT has no rights at all. In fact, Mosfet has the right to sue for breach of contract, which allows you to up the damages way beyond the real damages.
Of course, this has a lot of assumptions in it. I certainly haven't read the contract, and I have no way to know that what Mosfet and FT are saying about the situation is even remotely true.
-- Nolite audere delere orbiculum rigidum meum.
maybe they call themselves Future Tech because whenever you ask about the salary, they talk in the future tense
.
I've seen a few of these disputes with ex-employees. In many cases, the ex-employee posts material that is inaccurate (or even downright lies). Even so, the company can only hurt itself by getting into a public debate, and usually is advised to avoid this.
Of course, it is also possible the facts are exactly as he stated. Without more information, you just can't tell.
Come on, who didn't burst out laughing when they saw Future Tech's website?
This may be slightly offtopic, but my thought came about because of how one problem with a developer can cascade into problems for other people, organizations, and companies.
:)
What if somebody began contributing code to the Linux Kernel? It might take a while for them to develop a good reputation, but perhaps over a year or two make a number of important contributions to the system. Then after they've thoroughly integrated their code into the kernel it turns out that their code violates somebody's intelletcual property. Be that copyright, patent law, etc. How would that effect the Kernel?
What I was considering is that this might be a back door tactic that somebody like Microsoft could use. If they could get people to infest the kernel with copyrighted and patented code it could really hose up the works it seems.
I don't know the feasibility of such an attack, but I figured I'd throw it out there and see what people think. Please feel free to gun down my post
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You can't copyright colours. Apple cannot stop me from using a total rip off of the OSX interface, so long as I don't use their logo,
Actually, that's not quite correct.
While you can't copyright colors, you must also remember that AQUA is not a color. But an overall design and functionality spec.
Now that you can protect, and it's called a trade dress.
A trade dress is a visual representation of an object that identifies a product to it's manufacturer.
Basically, this is what Apple used to defend it's iMac from cheap knock-offs, like what eMachine had with it's eOne.
I dunno. Sounds to me like Mosfet is a real weiner: he left the KDE team all in a huff, and strikes up a new working relationship where he also gets upset.
Common factor in both cases is him.
I suspect we don't have the whole story.
--
Don't like it? Respond with words, not karma.
Without having read too much, I can assure you that this Giovanni character is evil to the core. According to my sons, he is responsible for the reprehensible actions of "Team Rocket" and directed the research that lead to MewTwo!
I understand that the quest for the ultimate Chinpokomon is important and we all must destroy the evil power. So this Giovanni guy must be shamed out of the Chinpokomon arena forever.
But please do not be angry with me. I have a very small penis. It's not huge like your penis...