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Kiss Technology Counters MPlayer GPL Arguments

Posted by simoniker on from the kiss-off dept.

Snaller writes "Recently, MPlayer claimed that KISS Technology were violating the GPL by using parts of their MPlayer movie playback code in proprietary software. Now The Danish National Radio has interviewed the managing director of Kiss Technology, Peter Wilmar Christensen. He denies all claims of wrongdoing and suggests that if the pieces of code are the same, perhaps they were leaked from Kiss Technology and were then used by the Mplayer group. He also adds that the GPL is a weak license which has never been tested in court. Gabucino from the Mplayer team is furious, and accuses the director of outright lying."

7 of 634 comments (clear)

  1. And As Always... by bfg9000 · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...the way to show support for our mplayer friends is to slashdot them into infinity!

    --

    I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."

  2. They should no better. by pardasaniman · · Score: 4, Funny

    GPL has been tested over and over, and enforced too. Those who don't comply are slashdotted! (And some those who do too!) We slashdotted SCO, now we slashdot KISS.. Fear our wrath!

  3. The True Meaning of KISS... by deminisma · · Score: 5, Funny

    Keep It Stolen, Stupid.

  4. Breaking news... by bennomatic · · Score: 5, Funny

    SCO is apparently suing KISS for stealing their business model...

    --
    The CB App. What's your 20?
  5. The Newest Defense by Dark+Paladin · · Score: 5, Funny
    What may happen in the future....

    GPL Group: Excuse me.

    Evil Proprietary Company (EPC): Yes?

    GPL Group: That's our code.

    EPC: No, it's not.

    GPL Group: Yes, it is. Look - you didn't even remove our "GPL License" warnings inside.

    EPC: Oh, that. No, it looks like you stole our code.

    GPL Group; What? Why would you put those warnings -

    EPC: So we could prove when people steal our code! Now, leave us alone, you thieves!

    GPL Group: Wait a second -

    Scooby-Doo: Shaggy, look!

    Fred: Why, it's Darl McBride! He's been making other perfectly honest proprietary companies look bad by giving code thieves an argument they can make to the press!

    Darl McBride: And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren't for you meddling kids! By the way, I invented that talking dog, and his royalties are mine! Mine, I tell you!

    Velma: We knew the truth when we asked you to show us your code history through the CVS archives which clearly showed when the Open Source code was developed.

    (Everyone else looks at her.)

    Velma: What? Didn't I look hot in the movie?


    Hopefully we can stop this evil before it spreads too far. No, not Velma looking really good in the next "Scooby Doo" movie, but companies stealing GPL code, then arguing "Well, *you* must have stolen it from us", even though they can't prove it.
    --
    52 Weeks, 52 Religions with John Hummel
  6. Ah, yes, that makes perfect sense. by Temporal · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's right... By some freak coincidence, KISS had developed a custom subtitle format and gave it the name "MPSub". You might think that the "MP" in that name stood for MPlayer -- you know, as if MPlayer had invented it -- but you would be wrong.

    uhh...

  7. Re:GNU's NOT EFF?? by Waffle+Iron · · Score: 5, Funny
    GNU's NOT EFF!

    Actually, GNE's not EFF.