Re: Nokia A036 and the GPL

[Erik Andersen <andersen@codepoet.org>]

On Fri, 25 Jul 2003, Andre Hedrick wrote:
> Who cares, the world according to Roman .. it all should be
> free and to pursue litigation of any kind will offend people
> and they will not use Linux. 

As Al Viro said earlier:

    ...you are politely advised to take your crusade and shove it
    ...  I can't speak for anybody else, but I neither need nor
    welcome "help" from ideologists of any persuasion. 

It is clear you have some sortof personal grievances related to
Linux code and licenses.  Please take whatever it is you are
trying to crusade about and do something about it -- somewhere
else.  Maybe you should find a lawyer and sue whoever has ticked
you off rather than playing armchair lawyer on the lkml...

Re the Nokia A036, as Copyright holder for BusyBox, I have
emailed the folks at Nokia and I have no doubt they will take
care of the problem shortly.  A polite email asking people to
comply is usually all it takes.  And I also have no doubt, in the
exceedingly unlikely event that litigation should eventually
prove necessary, that my dad (who is a lawyer) would have no
trouble prevailing and could make them pay legal fees and
statutory damages (despite your earlier allegations to the
contrary).  Large companies like to respect intellectual property
laws, so chances are roughly 0% this will ever get close to a
courthouse.  I see this device was made in .tw -- Nokia probably
purchased distribution rights and hasn't the faintest clue what
is inside...

FYI, I send out (via my father) please-comply-with-the-license
letters reasonably often (i.e. such as for the Linksys WRT54G
mentioned earlier in this thread).  I keep such things quiet.
Such love notes have not stopped the spread of Linux...  But
frankly, I really don't care if companies are scared away.  If
they have not carefully thought through the business case for
using Linux they certainly should not be using it in the first
place.  Nobody is being forced to use Linux (and by extension,
busybox, etc), but when they do make the choice to use Linux,
they also choose to either abide by the licensing provisions (the
GPL) or face cease-and-desist letters, copyright violation
lawsuits, and statutory damages.  

Thus far I've never earned even one penny of damages (which I
consider a good thing).  Because a polite note is usually all it
takes, with the occasional follow up letter from my Dad's lawfirm
asking them to comply by some date, with the occasional follow up
letter giving them a cease-and-desist...

 -Erik

--
Erik B. Andersen             http://codepoet-consulting.com/
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