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SCO Attorney Declares GPL Invalid
chrullrich writes "According to heise (German, fishbait), SCO's chief counsel Mark Heise (unrelated) of Boies, Schiller and Flexner has declared that the GPL violates the US copyright law and is thus null and void. SCO's legal position is actually a little too crazy to believe: The GPL allows unlimited copies, the copyright law allows one. Therefore, the GPL is invalid. Apparently, they try to argue that the copyright law, in giving consumers the right to make one backup of their software without any permission from the copyright holder, outlaws any contractual agreement that allows users to make more than one copy." There's an Inquirer article in English. Apparently SCO is now using the Chewbacca Defense. Other SCO news: SCO reports a profit, examining SCO's contributions to Linux, an attorney summarizes the case.
You mean SCO is going to go after George Lucas?
Trolling is a art,
SCO has declared that the earth is actually flat, that you *can* dig a hole to China, and that the moon is, in fact, made of green cheese.
I've often heard of companies having a crack legal team, but this is the first time that I've heard of one being on crack.
HH
And SCO is paying how much per hour for this legal mastery?
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
What a joke. Johnnie Cochran must be part of their legal team.
if the gpl is -legal- then they have no legal legs to stand on.
-of-course- they'll 'declare it' illegal.
thank goodness their lawyer's opinions matter only slightly more than my cat's.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
If they can use the chewbaca defense, I'm calling SHENANIGANS!!!
Well everyone knows that two wrongs don't make a right, but three copyrights make a copyleft :)
Burn the land and boil the sea, you can't take the sky from me
Vague expansion of witty idea, looking like every other one-liner predictably posted to the thread.
--
Pointless and/or overly-geeky quote
That would be in Soviet Russia, comrade.
I am waiting for the next SCO press conference where McBride will announce that "all your bases now belong to us".
PS: M$Bride knows that the only way they can getout of prizon sentence in the end is to demonstrate their insanity now. So far it's working well...
Who took my tinfoil hat?
SCO has announced an agreement with the Business Software Alliance to raid data backup centers. SCO CEO Darl McBride was quoted as saying "These renegade 'backup' centers are no more than a front for illegitimate software duplication. Any customers who are found to have multiple 'backup' copies of any of SCO's intellectual property will be required to pay additional licensing fees, according to the number of processors in the machine that served as the source for these illicit duplicates."
Future targets, according to the press release, may include schools, small businesses, and FTP 'mirrors', which not only house myriad copies of copyrighted works, but also make them available to further illegal duplication by end users.
SCO Claims that copyright law prohibiting multiple backups of information may also cover music, movies, and published works. The RIAA and MPAA were reportedly intrigued, but unavailable for comment.
--Jasin Natael
True science means that when you re-evaluate the evidence, you re-evaluate your faith.
sco .. drugs are bad mmmmmmmm-kay?
[alk]
In Soviet Russia authority questions you..oh wait, that really did happen in Soviet Russia, nevermind.
In the RED Corner, weighing in at $140M, we have the Self-Proclaimed Siiiilent Majorrrity. . .
And in the BLUE corner, weighing in at One Hunnnndred and Fifty Beeeellion Dollars, The Heavyweight Champion of Patent Litigation, DEEEEEEEEP POCKETTTTTTTS!!!!
Round 1.
Fight!
I've got it figured out. SCO is trying to throw out so many baseless accusitions, and fill the air with so much nonesense, that we simply become numb, unable to deal with it, or respond in a coherent manner.
It's like a two year old that keeps arguing that the sky is, in fact, green, and that he'll never grow up to be a basketball player if you don't let him eat cookies for breakfast. It's cute the first couple of times, then becomes slightly annoying, but eventually you are so baffled by the shear stupidity that you stop tyring to correct him, stop trying to prove your point, and simply say 'yes, dear.'
That, my friends, is SCO; Litigation through Temper Tantrum.
Thomas Galvin
Based on the continuingly insane SCO claims, I'd say that massive head trauma, or the smoking of some really bad weed got us into this mes to begin with...
...for very large values of 2....
Jaysyn
There is a war going on for your mind.
what are you doing posting here then? that option must be working really well... ;)
Dear Darl,
Thanks, I needed that. Can't remember when I heard something so goddamn funny. I nearly blew Mountain Dew through my nose on that one.
What, you're serious?! Ssnnnorrkkk!!! Damn, that's even funnier! Have you guys thought about doing a stand-up routine somewhere?
Really. Just too f'ing funny. Pardon me while I wipe the tears out of my eyes.
You're the best,
Bill Gates
is when the copymachine get a serious paperjam.
Evolution of Language Through The Ages: 6000 BC : ungh, grrf, booga 2000 AD : grep, awk, sed
I predict we'll get our section three days before IBM crushes them to death in court.
You win again, gravity!
"Copyleft is not a principle the law recognizes."
And not a character the Unicode recognises.
Bastards.
"SCO, they're about to get on the wrong side of Microsoft too, since MS..."
Are you hoping for a Battle of Stalingrad situation, where there is really no site to cheer for?
Or is the Godzilla vs Rodan analogy more appropriate? Or would a simple shark feeding-frezny do.
This is what it's like when worlds collide....
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
IBM: That does it! Shenanigans! Shenanigans!!!
SCO: What are you doing?
IBM: I'm declaring Shenanigans on you. This lawsuit is rigged.
Maybe you should educate the morons of tomorrow so they'll stop believing the leaders of tomorrow. - Dogbert
Oh, well. If SCO says the GPL is invalid, then obviously it's time to pay up!!!
http://www.tuxrocks.com/
...now that I don't have to take it seriously. I love the department tagline. Somehow the sight of a monkey in a fez seems utterly fitting. Any chance we could make that the new SCO icon?
who are those slashdot people? they swept over like Mongol-Tartars.
SCO declares Law of gravity invalid, as servers with linux use it to stay on the ground.
Linux: Helping nerds look smarter since the late 90s.
Excellent. I think all Canadians should be required to use IAC somewhere in their posts, so we can give their opinion the proper weight.
Yeah, with a Q-Tip.
Pathetic.
Whoa there - I agree with you.
I'm asserting that the tack that SCOs lawyers seem to be taking is to try and push GPLed works into the public domain and not copyright.
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
It's all fun and games until someone loses the key to the handcuffs.
In the news.com article, it states "He [McBride] said the company had spent between $600,000 and $700,000 on legal expenses since March, less than half of the $1 million per quarter it has budgeted for such costs."
SCO is budgeting $333k per month to go up against the company that took on the part of the United States government that literally prints money and won?
Before reading this, I was willing to discount the comments about Darl and his merry men being on crack, but after reading this the only question I have is:
Darl, where can I find some of what you're smoking, swallowing, snorting or injecting?
myke
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
the JPL is null and void under U.S. copyright law
Quick! Someone call NASA!
I'm sorry I wasn't clear in our last conversation.
What I meant to say is "Get crack team of lawyers", not "Get that team of lawyers some crack".
Sorry for any inconviences
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
In soviet Russia, the GPL declares SCO invalid.
Who said anything about 'donate'? Why would I want to 'donate' code to anyone for any reason? Why on earth would I want to 'donate' my code to you? You're a dick. If I want to GPL something, that's my choice. I don't give up 'ownership' of the code in the way I would if I put it in the public domain.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Is it just me, or does anyone else read IANAL and pronounce it in your head as "I anal"? It drives me crazy.
Go ahead, mod me down as stupid or whatever, but I know someone else has to read it that way.
Well everyone knows that two wrongs don't make a right, [...]
... but two Wrights make an aeroplane.
That would be iAnal(TM) the first in Apple's new line of internet enabled buttplugs.
About 10,000 Linux advocates laughed themselves to death today, France is now confused about weather to add their share of the dead nerds to the heat death toll. In an official response to the sea SCO's chairman said there will now be weekly wild assertaions until the case is lost... errr he meant won.
Novel theory: Modern Man evolved from psychopath
All we need is one slashdotter on the jury and SCO is doomed. I just hope it isn't the penis bird man, the Natalie Portman stalker, or the grits fetishist.
I can see Boies during voire dire.
Boies: "Have you ever read Slashdot?"
Juror: uh.......yeah
Boies: "Your honor I move to have this juror excused."
Juror: "But all I ever post is hot grits and natalie portman posts."
Boies: "Oh, sorry your honor. We'll keep him."
"The words of the prophets are written on the Slashdot walls."
I won't have to read it then, Tried before always got a headache.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
(Score:5, Insightful)
Is it just me or do posters always get modded up whenever they dare the moderators to mod them down?
Please mod me down, I'm a redundant, trolling, flamebait-loving dogmatist and I was a pro-DMCA lobbyist. And I'm sleeping with Darl.
Maybe partying will help...
No, that was Asimov's little-known collection of sci-fi erotica.
Ok, karma dive.
I declare SCO it be invalid.
There that should solve all our problems!
Smeghead every day of the week.
Yes, this SCO deal is pissing everybody off. If the original post says they are using th chewbacca defense, I would go further and say that they used the Argentinian attack, just like at Falkland.
Like lame Slashdotters who post before reading the article, SCO's lawyers appear to have not even bothered to read the GPL before declaring it illegal.
I think this is just a floater for Boies, etc., to see how well it will fly. . . Remember, they demanded a trial-by-jury.
Ah, I now understand the term "trial balloon".
SCO has been going on about Linux being in violation of the law, IBM being in violation of the law, Linux users being in violation of the law, and now, incredibly, the GPL being in violation of the law on the grounds that copyright ownership prohibits you from transferring copying privileges, all of which point to the big question that nobody so far has asked:
Isn't having an entire company full of people smoking crack in violation of the law?
Proud member of the Weirdo-American community.
can see Boies during voire dire.
Boies: "Have you ever read Slashdot?"
Juror: uh.......yeah
Boies: Then you'll know that in Soviet Russia, intellectual property steals YOU. By stealing other people's intellectual property, SCO are simply engaged in the sort of anti-communist activity that's necessary to protect our way of life.
Judge (who is a Microsoft troll): Somebody mod that sucker UP!
"hey! glad to see you? hows it been? come on over here and have a seat.. can I get you a drink? are you sure? cigarette? no? fine, fine...
Listen, I'm glad we had this chance to talk privately for a second, there was something I've been wanting to tell you, and I don't see any reason to discuss it it front of just everybody, right?
There is this little thing that everyone else on the planet has been aware of for quite a while now, that you just can't seem to get a grasp on......"
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
Um, if SCO's lawyers do ever argue this in front of a judge, does this sort of stupidity count as one of the things for which a judge can declare the lawyer in contempt? Something along the lines of "Mr. SCO Lawyer, in recognition of your extreme ignorance of copyright law and for wasting our time, I'm fining you $500."