From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from lists.gentoo.org (pigeon.gentoo.org [208.92.234.80]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384 (256/256 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by finch.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 9C90D138334 for ; Sat, 20 Apr 2019 23:41:15 +0000 (UTC) Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id C57C0E0BEE; Sat, 20 Apr 2019 23:41:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: from mail-pl1-f171.google.com (mail-pl1-f171.google.com [209.85.214.171]) (using TLSv1.2 with cipher ECDHE-RSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 (128/128 bits)) (No client certificate requested) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id 978D8E0BED for ; Sat, 20 Apr 2019 23:41:14 +0000 (UTC) Received: by mail-pl1-f171.google.com with SMTP id f36so4150637plb.5 for ; Sat, 20 Apr 2019 16:41:14 -0700 (PDT) X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:mime-version:references:in-reply-to:from:date :message-id:subject:to; bh=aFIFgpseKbUr2mUAXli37N2JEHzYQkhaSHPKv5+zFEk=; b=WCGRD70QWb6MRWrW1V1Q8AORlGdX3CzV3IdMVLlEk2283ACH46QMD6bZOoIrauePW/ tBssTBaWxDTQXx3DZUfqm7cfUxWw1AMQwHtJ0oCWfjIum4OTNoNUesx7n/0hDPX7F5R5 RfA1Wb2yuFr/yf7jH3DEQK1nfxmcW7ViJ/kZAZW6dPlxYI4vOBLcZWs14+ZGTtz89OrL Xz5+ygZ/kCCpnpOu6FHB6yY6wKwMNzu/vYu/ThFNfw0Idd3Rki2QwzOSxlMI3F1m7SNE DbOjPQDoA6xTV3akXjyEhBviXpKGVJDXX8GuwDneLFzBLK63n3rrvWakUi4/0hOyL7ZE HVfQ== X-Gm-Message-State: APjAAAXGAhGfWCYLd9WZ+WSuBMKlead6RGN4JfpLAB5RaGZruADt1An+ wl1l6YcoUMG3rLnaXGGF/FW+mziK5doflTO1Y1YyYw== X-Google-Smtp-Source: APXvYqy/ge+Q3RxZdAOe0Do8C8lboXNF0cQjrhnudOwSf3w15rGBlkUwY0ePl+BhGWtT3H78/8zXv9KiQ/WdlC2eYhQ= X-Received: by 2002:a17:902:8483:: with SMTP id c3mr11627111plo.19.1555803673100; Sat, 20 Apr 2019 16:41:13 -0700 (PDT) Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Project discussion list X-BeenThere: gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org Reply-To: gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org X-Auto-Response-Suppress: DR, RN, NRN, OOF, AutoReply MIME-Version: 1.0 References: <20190401032055.GA9497@linux1.home> <4bbfc34f-335f-5521-310a-b66ffd0d9a9a@gentoo.org> <5e30d658-80c8-b608-1505-dc08db3625bf@gentoo.org> In-Reply-To: From: Rich Freeman Date: Sat, 20 Apr 2019 19:41:01 -0400 Message-ID: Subject: Re: [gentoo-project] GLEP76, legal liability around misrepresentation in copyright, real names, how it's handled at FSF, SFC & at the US copyright office! To: gentoo-project Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" X-Archives-Salt: 464d2191-e514-48ab-8869-501b60eff50a X-Archives-Hash: 3db4cd0fbf28171a963d17a1ec28bdc5 On Fri, Apr 19, 2019 at 2:50 AM Robin H. Johnson wrote: > > What could the outcomes be? It would come down to penalties as well as > the damages suffered by "A" in the publication of Work "X". > > The one thing you can be certain of is that lawyers and the legal system > will walk away being paid, and somebody else's bank account will be > emptier! > People need to keep in mind that there hasn't been a ton of litigation over this stuff in the context of open source software projects. That means that there is a ton of conjecture, and very little in the way of actual case law. That doesn't mean that lawyers can't offer good advice in general, based on part on case law in similar domains where it exists, but it is very hard for any expert to offer certainty when ultimately the decisions are in the hands of a court. I'm not saying that legal advice isn't a good thing. I'm just pointing out that the average lawyer doesn't deal with open source intellectual property law, and the few experts that exist in this space are largely going off of common/best practices. I'm sure most of them would have said that you can't copyright an API until a court ruled that Sun/Oracle did (a ruling many would disagree with, and which another court might disagree with, but it is a ruling all the same). Nobody can offer certainty in this space. You just do your best in good faith and hope that being a good neighbor pays off. IMO our biggest defense is that anybody going after us would look bad as long as we're generally trying to do the right thing, and since we aren't profiting from our code really there isn't much a suit would actually accomplish since any code we publish is already public. Still, if somebody wanted to throw a lot of money at suing us then it isn't like we could afford a strong defense unless somebody came to our aid or a lot of donors stepped up. Again, not my call and I think there is plenty of room for disagreement, but there is also something to be said about professionalism in an environment where Boaty McBoatface isn't one of your top committers... -- Rich