Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2003 11:40:13 -0400 From: Bill Moran <wmoran@potentialtech.com> To: Mark Murray <mark@grondar.org> Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Ugly Huge BSD Monster Message-ID: <3F58AE5D.9030109@potentialtech.com> In-Reply-To: <200309051435.h85EZ9qi038471@grimreaper.grondar.org> References: <200309051435.h85EZ9qi038471@grimreaper.grondar.org>
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Mark Murray wrote: > Bill Moran writes: > >>>Lawsuits are how you _defend_, not how you _conduct_. >> >>The crux of the problem, however, is where the fine line between defend >>and conduct lie. > > Sure :-). I am well prepared to concede that there is a rich field > of Grey Area(tm) to play in. > >>If I write a program that does something totally unique (hard to imagine >>in this day and age, but bear with me) and market it. Then somone else >>makes a program that does the exact same thing (although, written from >>scratch), have they violated my rights? Should I defend myself? > > Legally, if you have patented your idea/code, then the priveliges > granted to you (others may call those "rights" ;-) ) would suggest you > have a defendable case. > >>In my opinion, no. They're allowed to write competing software. > > In the absence of a patent, sure. Well. There may be grey areas withing this one example. But I don't consider the law the Book of Rightness. Just because I have a legal right to sue someone doesn't mean I'm going to. And, in most cases I can imagine that fall into this category, I'm not likely to sue - because of my own personal beliefs. The one exception would be if I created something, didn't bother to get a patent on it, and then someone else patented the idea. Before they could ever get around to filing a patent lawsuit, I would file some sort of suit claiming they had obtained the patent illegally. It's possibly that I would lose such a case, and that I'd be much better off just filing patents and not bothering to enforce them when I don't feel it's the right thing to do. >>If I write this program, and someone reverse engineers part or all of >>my code (or steals the source, etc) and markets that, should I defend? >>In my opinion, yes. In that case, they are stealing my work, not my >>ideas. > > DMCA. > > If I reverse engineer your work, and then write _completeley_new_ > and better code to do the same thing, where are we? > > If I take apart your mousetrap to see what oil you use on the hinges, > where are we? > > If I do chemical analysis of your mousetrap's spring to improve the > spring in my gronkulators, where are we? See ... these are the situations that freak me out ... mainly because some of these I'm not sure if I feel I would be right in filing a case or not. If I'm gonna do something, I prefer to feel that it's the right thing to do. >>Altough other people would consider me wrong for my opinion on the second >>circumstance. Right or wrong, these differences of opinion are the >>basis for this whole argument and many others that are relevent to our >>profession. > > Agreed. Where abominations like DMCA, and lesser abominations like > software patents fail is where liars^Wlawyers make their livings, > and where disreputable "inventors" grovel in their shite for easy > money. What a world. How much easier it would be if everyone just tried to be honest and get along with others. Alas, it's not to be. -- Bill Moran Potential Technologies http://www.potentialtech.com
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