linux-kernel - Re: GPL Violation?

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Date:	Mon, 21 Aug 2006 14:06:10 +0100
From:	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>
To:	Helge Hafting <helge.hafting@...el.hist.no>
Cc:	Chase Venters <chase.venters@...entec.com>,
	Helge Hafting <helgehaf@...el.hist.no>,
	David Schwartz <davids@...master.com>,
	"Linux-Kernel@...r. Kernel. Org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: GPL Violation?

Ar Llu, 2006-08-21 am 09:58 +0200, ysgrifennodd Helge Hafting: 
> > brand new ground. I think it is more likely that the plaintiff could be 
> > awarded monetary damages and the defendant enjoined from further 
> > redistribution.

That is the history with gpl-violations.org, although almost everyone
has settled out of court.

> The reason courts usually award monetary damages is that
> money is what almost everybody wants.  Commercial software,

I've no idea about Norway but in the UK and US money is just a
convenient shorthand for transferring and measuring the harm caused by
the action in accordance with civil law rules on equity. In some
countries large scale commercial copyright violation is also a criminal
offence.

> It'd be hard to set a price anyway, given that GPL software
> isn't usually sold.  The price of having a professional programmer
> developing the same driver perhaps?

A good US lawyer would no doubt ask for the cost of developing an
equivalent open source driver, reverse engineering, and lost
opportunities caused by the time this will take, trebled for being
intentional, and class action on behalf of all the rights-holders.

What a court would award is unknown, there is AFAIK no useful US caselaw
on either class action copyright infringement suits or GPL violation
penalties.

Alan

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