Re: [ossig] 1 lawyer's opinion on SCO vs IBM

[Christopher DeMarco <cdemarco@fastmail.fm>]

> "IAAL, and IMHO in SCO vs IBM : SCO doesn't have much chance'.

This doesn't make me feel any better:

1) His HO doesn't  matter; it's the HO  of the judge(s) and jury which
matter.

2) Most of the world INAL and that's how FUD works - unless SCO's suit
turns into a landslide victory for the GPL and/or other FOSS licenses,
there will be irreparable  damage done to  said licenses in the "soft"
spheres of  public  opinion, marketing,  policymaking,  IT management,
etc.  SCO opened a very very nasty  door and it's  gonna take a lot of
work to close it again.

OTOH (how many  net-cronyms can we work  into one thread?)   a serious
challenge of the  GPL  and of FOSS   licensing is inevitable  and even
desirable (so long as play is fair) insofar as  it will legitimize and
...canonize(?) the ideas  - until an  idea is tried  (and passed) in a
court   it      cannot  be   said to   be    positively   sound,  only
sound-by-virtue-of-lacking-disproof.   Which  I   guess   is  a  major
advantage law has over science ;)

Now I will eat my lunch.

-- 
% You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.
  Christopher DeMarco
  cdemarco@fastmail.fm
  +6013 389 5658


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