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Linux Devicemaker Sued In First US Test of GPL
An anonymous reader writes "For the first time in the U.S., a company is being taken to court for a GPL violation. The Software Freedom Law Center has sued Monsoon Multimedia over alleged GPL violations in the Hava, a place- and time-shifting TV recorder similar to the SlingBox. Interestingly, Monsoon Multimedia is run by a highly experienced international lawyer named Graham Radstone. According to his corporate biography, Radstone has an MA in Law from the University of Cambridge, England, and held the top legal spot at an unnamed "$1 billion private multinational company." He also reportedly held top management positions with Philip Morris, Pfizer, and DHL. Sounds like the makings of a good old legal Donnybrook ahead."
suck my ass motherfuckers
Judging from the SFLC's blatently unsound advice to OpenHAL about the ability to strip and replace licenses, I don't have much faith in their ability to execute the law, especially international law.
Hypothetically, how would you go about breaking the Free software movement? Let's say you set up a nice Orwellian sounding organisation and called it, I dunno, "The Free Software Law Institute" or something snappy. Then you pick a battle with a well placed stooge, I dunno, say some guy who spent his entire career as a top shot lawyer for the worlds biggest companies, and then suddenly decided to go into business making set top TV recorders, a fairly normal career move one might suppose. Then, when your big day comes in court you lose.
I dunno what rocks you guys are living under but this STINKS to me. Who the hell are the Sofware Freedom whatever? How long have they been around? Who pays them? What is their motivation? Why choose this lawsuit and not a smaller infringer?
Yeah yeah, bury it down -1 paranoid, but don't come whining when it's I told you so.
NIGGERNIGGERNIGGER
Yep. I thought some of the Linux zealots are loons, but these OpenBSD nuts take the cake. What buncha whiny loser bastards.